Conversations regarding the ethics of eating meat are focused on whether or not it is moral to eat non-human animals. Ultimately, this is a debate that has been ongoing for millennia, and it remains one of the most prominent topics in food ethics.[1] Individuals who promote meat consumption do so for a number of reasons, such as health, cultural traditions, religious beliefs,[2] and scientific arguments that support the practice.[3][4] Those who support meat consumption typically argue that making a meat-free diet mandatory would be wrong because it fails to consider the individual nutritional needs of humans at various stages of life, fails to account for biological differences between the sexes, ignores the reality of human evolution, ignores various cultural considerations, or because it would limit the adaptability of the human species.[5]
People who abstain from eating meat are generally known as "vegetarians". They avoid meat for various reasons such as taste preferences, religion, animal welfare, the environmental impact of meat production (environmental vegetarianism), health considerations,[6] and antimicrobial resistance.[7] Vegans also abstain from other animal products, such as dairy products, honey and eggs, for similar reasons. "Ethical omnivores" are individuals who object to the practices underlying the production of meat, as opposed to the act of consuming meat itself. In this respect, many people who abstain from certain kinds of meat eating and animal products do not take issue with meat consumption in general, provided that the meat and animal products are produced in a specific manner.[8] Ethical omnivores may object to rearing animals for meat in factory farms, killing animals in ways that cause pain, and feeding animals unnecessary antibiotics or hormones. To this end, they may avoid meats such as veal, foie gras, meat from animals that were not free range, animals that were fed antibiotics or hormones, etc.[9]
In a 2014 survey of 406 US philosophy professors, approximately 60% of ethicists and 45% of non-ethicist philosophers said it was at least somewhat "morally bad" to eat meat from mammals.[10] A 2020 survey of 1,812 published English-language philosophers found that 48% said it was permissible to eat animals in ordinary circumstances, while 45% said it was not.[11] The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity (2017), the most co-signed scientific journal article in history, called (among other things) for a transition to plant-based diets in order to combat climate change.[12]
^Sandler, Ronald L. (2014). Food Ethics: The Basics. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-135-04547-0. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
^"Easter Symbols and Traditions". HISTORY. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
^Klurfeld, David M (7 July 2018). "What is the role of meat in a healthy diet?". Animal Frontiers: The Review Magazine of Animal Agriculture. 8 (3): 5–10. doi:10.1093/af/vfy009. ISSN 2160-6056. PMC 7015455. PMID 32071794.
^"Are we supposed to be vegetarian?". Medical News Today. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
^Paxton George, Katherine (21 July 1991). "So Animal a Human..., or the Moral Relevance of Being An Omnivore" (PDF). Journal of Agricultural Ethics: 172–186.
^American Dietetic Association (2009). "Position Paper of the American Dietatic Association: Vegetarian Diets" (PDF). Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 109 (7): 1266–1282. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2009.05.027. PMID 19562864. S2CID 7906168.
^Harvey, Fiona (29 April 2019). "Antibiotic resistance as big a threat as climate change – chief medic". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
^Doggett, Tyler (2018), "Moral Vegetarianism", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 24 December 2021
^"Life after Veganuary: the ethical guide to eating meat, eggs and dairy". the Guardian. 4 February 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
^Schwitzgebel, Eric; Rust, Joshua (22 January 2013). "The moral behavior of ethics professors: Relationships among self-reported behavior, expressed normative attitude, and directly observed behavior". Philosophical Psychology. 27 (3). Informa UK Limited: 293–327. doi:10.1080/09515089.2012.727135. ISSN 0951-5089. S2CID 144304490.
^Justin Weinberg (1 November 2021). "What Philosophers Believe: Results from the 2020 PhilPapers Survey". Daily Nous. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
^"We Ignore Urgent Global Warnings At Our Peril". HuffPost. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
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