Why is it not morally permissible to eat meat?

Question

I have to write a paper for an ethics class on why it is not morally permissible to eat meat, and i dont really know a lot of reasons.. can anyone help me?

Answer 1

You need to construct your argument based on ethical objections, rather than knee jerk reactions such as "Animals are cute and fluffy" (though none of the veggies on here have done that, Michael H I applaud your answer). I would say that you need to look at the wider picture of environmental damage and world hunger. In order to feed herds of cows, for example, the rainforest in certain areas is being destroyed. Farmers in this country are importing food from these areas, perpetuating the destruction. It is a terrible waste of fertile land the following information is from the vegan society website at http://www.vegansociety.com and you'll find plenty of extra reasons there:

A report commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank concluded that factory farming, "acts directly on land, water, air and biodiversity through the emission of animal waste, use of fossil fuels and substitution of animal genetic resources. In addition, it affects the global land base indirectly through its effect on the arable land needed to satisfy its feed concentrate requirements. Ammonia emissions from manure storage and application lead to localized acid rain and ailing forests."

So, basically, as humans living in an age where global warming and climate change are at the top of everyone's agenda, we have a moral obligation to reduce our impact on the environment and one of the ways we can do this is by not consuming any animal products. It's not the only way, but it is one way.

I would also argue that there are religious ethics involved, particularly from a christian perspective, but this would take too long to explain right now, it's all in a very good book called "After Noah".

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Morality is a very vague thing constructed only to suit the person who is seeking it. You can look at eating meat as morally wrong if you are against "dead energy" the argument of my roommate made or you are against the hardships the animals go through at the farms before you consume the product. Another topic in morality is destruction vs creation. Did this animal come about to die for you? And is that right? or should we not place morality on this argument but rather identify it as personal dogma ?

Just a few takes on the subject, hope it helps for your class!!

Answer 3

I would be a vegetarian if I did not love pot roast so much, so I will give you a heads up. Think about it: animals are living things too, and if you eat them, it is like eating yourself. All things bleed the same blood, whether they are a human, or a cow, or a bird, or a fish. Some people become vegetarian because they are like me, and don't like to think of an animal having to die, just so we can have our little filet mignion.

Answer 4

Cruelty, animals are bred in appauling conditions, thier food is pumped full of drugs to make them grow, they are kept and transported in appauling conditions, they are slaughted in argonising slow and poorly monitored deaths.

This is not scare mongoring, I know this - I'm an arable farmer living amongst the farming community. It disgusts me.

Meat eaters need to take responsibility for their support of this cruelty and do something about it.

Half the bovine population is bolted ( murdered by a gun to the head ) at 5 days old. Happy with that ? No ? Then do something about it, take responsibility and accept its meat-eaters fault..

Answer 5

This is a reply to WellTravelledProg. You stated that "all major religions" allow meat. Well, that's incorrect. Hinduism and Jainism discourage the consumption of meat. Some sects of Buddhism do too. All of these are major religions.

Secondly, we don't NEED meat protein to be healthy. You're right in that it is a more compact source than plant protein but that in itself does not mean we need meat protein. Certainly not in this day and age.

Answer 6

I stopped eating meat and my child did too because we saw how they were being slaughtered. It is awful. Many times they are still alive when they are being skinned or when their limbs are being chopped off,etc... How moral is that. Not to mention all of the steroids etc... that they load their bodies full of to try to get them to grow faster and heavier so that they can make more money.

Answer 7

If it's for ethics you need to focus on the good-bad ethical point of view, like: animals are living beings put on this earth to fufill a cycle (foodchain), man is breakin this cycle and destroying the balance.
For ethics:
As a respect for cultures who belive in re-encarnation this is totall unacceptable because the life cycle needs to flow and every living thing needs to finish their path..
-Meat is full of bacteria that by itself can kill you the first time you eat it, we need to cook it, this is not a natural food resource.
-Because it is consider that every living thing has a soul.. and eathin meat is an act of destruction of a life.. etc..
hope some of this helps

Answer 8

Well, there are those who would call it "speciesism", as in, we are discriminating against a certain species, by eating them!

Also, a lot of the pollution in the world is caused by cow flatulence! (no joke!) So, the thinking is that, if you eat meat, you are contributing to more cows being raised, thus more pollution...

Answer 9

Um, sorry -- it IS morally permissible to eat meat.
It's legal, there are no restrictions against it in any of the major religions (except for a few certain kinds of meat like pork) -- that makes it morally permissible. Not to mention the fact that we humans are barely-evolved carnivores, and NEED meat protein to be healthy (yes, I know, vegetable sources of protein are available -- but none of them are as complete or as compact an energy source as meat is).

Can't help you -- it may be a fine idea not to eat meat, and I respect people who make that choice -- but it most certainly IS morally permissible.

Answer 10

Well look at the statics on health, vegetarians they live longer! Check it out this may help!