Quote:
Originally Posted by SecretMethod70
Well first off, I have no problem with people eating dog or cat. Eating someone's pet is wrong because it's their property, not because it's a dog or cat.
More to the point, though, I don't really have much interest in trying to create a consistent ethics with regards to biological imperatives. We like to eat animals. We didn't choose that out of some conscious choice, so we can't expect to cram that interest into a consistent ethical philosophy. No, that doesn't mean that we should act like the animals we are in all situations, but accepting this fact goes a long way toward avoiding unreasonable extremes, not to mention the mental gymnastics required to do what our bodies tell us to but also make cerebral excuses for our actions. Sometimes we just do things because we feel like it, and that will never change no matter how hard we try. (Again, see abstinence education). You're right that people aren't generally consistent about what they will and will not eat, but you presuppose that that lack of consistency is a problem. I don't think it is. It's just part of being human.
Veganism is the tyranny of the superego over the id, and that's fine for people who choose it, but it's also why it will never happen on a global scale.
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There's no switch I can flip to turn the world vegan, and that's not what I'm advocating. Instead, I see it as social progress.
Let's be clear. I am arguing for why the whole world could
one day become vegan, and not for why the whole world should go vegan
all at once (which would be ridiculous).
You compare the overcoming of biological imperatives to abstinence education, but that is a moral movement, not an ethical one. I think the concept of birth control is a better analog. Birth control is a situation where we can overcome our biological imperatives. Not the whole world at once, but when given the chance and education, one at a time.
The idea of monogamy may not be based on rigorous ethical conclusions, but it is another situation where we overcome our biological imperatives in order to meet societal standards.
So this "ultimate challenge" of overcoming biology to stop eating meat is overstating the challenge, at least in modern North America. Meat eating is really just a habit. If it was some Herculean task to stay off meat, I probably wouldn't manage! It was just a matter of changing my habits one at a time.
Oh... and saying it's wrong to eat someone's pet because it's property was a dodge. Would you eat your own pet?