Why I Am Not a Vegetarian

Withers 117

This is a paper about why I am not convinced by the moral arguments generally offered by vegetarians. This point helps indicate what the paper is not about. Many people choose vegetarianism for religious reasons, but I have nothing to say about religious motivations here. If you believe a god commands you to refrain from eating flesh, then perhaps you had better be a vegetarian. Also, many people choose to follow vegetarian diets for health benefits, or avoiding health risks. Here again, I have nothing to say about such pragmatic views. One might become a vegetarian for religious reasons, for alleged health reasons, to comply with social customs, etc. But no one should become a vegetarian because they have heard or read a sound ethical argument demonstrating that meat-eating is morally wrong. I shall briefly canvass the most common philosophical justifications for vegetarianism, and show you how each argument fails.