Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T06:27:50.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

ON EATING ANIMALS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2014

Michael B. Gill*
Affiliation:
Philosophy, University of Arizona

Abstract

This essay is a critical response to Loren Lomasky's essay in this volume: “Is It Wrong to Eat Animals?” The essay argues that Lomasky both overestimates the value of eating meat and underestimates the harms to animals of practices surrounding meat eating. While Lomasky takes the fact that an animal would not have lived at all if it were not being raised for food to constitute a benefit for animals being so raised, this essay argues that it would be better for animals raised on factory farms to have never been born. It also contends that Lomasky overstates his case regarding the benefits of meat eating for human well-being. While gastronomic experiences can enrich our lives, it would be a mistake to think that meat eating is indispensable to the enrichment of our lives; one canexperience the flourishing of eating well without eating animals.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)