Philosophy Essay- Should We Be Eating That
Rebecca
Intro Philosophy 1301
10 February 2013
Should We Be Eating That? Throughout the year there are billions of animals that are slaughtered for human consumption. I eat meat, but there are some very strong philosophical arguments that show that slaughtering animals for our consumption is morally wrong. While some will agree with this assumption, I however disagree. It is morally okay to eat meat because if everyone became a vegetarian, there would be negative consequences, we need meat to be healthy, and animals are below humans. The first argument against it being morally permissible to kill and eat animals is this; Yes, many vegetarians live healthy lives, but if everybody just suddenly stopped eating meat, it would disturb the ecosystem and maybe even harm the planet. If everyone became a vegetarian, it would lead to negative consequences. For example, in much of the world manure is still used as a fertilizer that is more readily usable by plants. If we raised fewer cattle and livestock, people would be forced to rely on the artificial nitrogenous fertilizers. The artificial fertilizers have chemicals that make plants and vegetables grow. If we became vegetarian we would be eating those plants. That could not possibly be healthy. And also since cow manure is used as fuel all around the world, the lack of fuel may force people to cut down more trees. If we were to eliminate the consumption of meat entirely, I would guess that it would take less land but require farming the land more intensively. Overpopulation of animals is also another negative consequence. If we all just stopped eating meat and started eating vegetables and other non meat products, we would have no reason to hunt animals. We hunt to eat the meat of the animals. With that being said, we could still hunt but what would we do with the carcass? If we left the carcass to decay on its own after days there would be an odor and the air would not be good to breathe. The second major
Intro Philosophy 1301
10 February 2013
Should We Be Eating That? Throughout the year there are billions of animals that are slaughtered for human consumption. I eat meat, but there are some very strong philosophical arguments that show that slaughtering animals for our consumption is morally wrong. While some will agree with this assumption, I however disagree. It is morally okay to eat meat because if everyone became a vegetarian, there would be negative consequences, we need meat to be healthy, and animals are below humans. The first argument against it being morally permissible to kill and eat animals is this; Yes, many vegetarians live healthy lives, but if everybody just suddenly stopped eating meat, it would disturb the ecosystem and maybe even harm the planet. If everyone became a vegetarian, it would lead to negative consequences. For example, in much of the world manure is still used as a fertilizer that is more readily usable by plants. If we raised fewer cattle and livestock, people would be forced to rely on the artificial nitrogenous fertilizers. The artificial fertilizers have chemicals that make plants and vegetables grow. If we became vegetarian we would be eating those plants. That could not possibly be healthy. And also since cow manure is used as fuel all around the world, the lack of fuel may force people to cut down more trees. If we were to eliminate the consumption of meat entirely, I would guess that it would take less land but require farming the land more intensively. Overpopulation of animals is also another negative consequence. If we all just stopped eating meat and started eating vegetables and other non meat products, we would have no reason to hunt animals. We hunt to eat the meat of the animals. With that being said, we could still hunt but what would we do with the carcass? If we left the carcass to decay on its own after days there would be an odor and the air would not be good to breathe. The second major