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Eating and using animals when there is a plant-based alternative is wrong and should not be done.
Ok so genuine question (and also my odd moral I guess?) why is eating a plant more moral than eating an animal? They're both equally alive and subsequently equally dead. Sure plants don't have a nervous system but they do react to harmful stimuli in a way somewhat analagous to a pain response. The only real difference appears to be that we can relate to animals more.
Eat plants: plants die
Eat animals: animals have to eat a bunch of plants first meaning way more plants die and also animals die
Plants don't have an agent that feels negative or positive feelings. Its stimulus-response system starts and stops at that. Animals on the other hand can experience suffering and pleasure, and and it's morally wrong to inflict the first and deny the second
this is only true under a limited set of moral beliefs. most people aren't utilitarians though
But most people do care if someone hurts their own dog. Why is causing pain to animals not okay when dogs are involved but it is for pigs, cows and chickens?
Kant dealt with this like 200 years ago. have you tried actually learning any ethical philosophy?
Your arguments lack any logic so don't lecture me about philosophy. It doesn't matter here at all what Kant said since most people don't agree with him on that.
you're wrong, and making a statement like this doesn't make it true
actually most professional philosophers are deontologists. and they eat meat and eggs and dairy.
What are you talking about? Why should I care what "professional philosophers" do? That's just some nonsense without any context.
Edit: it feels like whenever you realize being wrong about something you just switch to another topic.
they're the experts on ethics and logic, both of which you seem to think you have a firm grasp on. I'm pointing out that you are probably mistaken.
I've never met someone so confidently incorrect on Lemmy before. You just switched "most people" to "most professional philosophers" and now you are trying to win at least some argument about that. That's derailing at its finest.
if you want to lose an argument about the validity of utilitarian ethics, I'll be happy to help you. if you want to keep throwing out red herrings, and you can stop making it personal, that's fine too
I'm following your lead. if you want to stick with your assertions about pleasure and suffering I'll be glad to eviscerate utilitarianism for you.
Would you say that cutting a carrot is equal to cut the throat of a cow?
Plants do not have a central nervous system or a brain so they are not able to feel pain or emotions. Animals can feel, dream, have friends, same as we do. Just not as complex.
If that's the litmus test, then there are certainly animals that aren't sentient and don't meet those requirements. Is it OK to eat animals that do not have brains?
You are also denying oxygen to those cows
Actually, (correct me if i'm wrong) carrots are not dead until you boil/cook them.
^I^ ^love^ ^poking^ ^holes^ ^in^ ^people's^ ^analogies^ ^without^ ^addressing^ ^their^ ^points.^
I think this is the one thing that is impossible to defend. In my opinion, not being vegan is impossible to justify, on ethical and moral grounds. And I am not vegan currently (I was in the past).
Make the plants free and people will naturally eat more of them.
Probably. It's a shame that meat is so heavily subsidized. Without the subsidies, meat would be far too expensive for normal earners. In my country (Germany), for example, you pay 19% tax on oat milk and 7% on cow's milk. Because cow's milk is considered a staple food...🤡
Why?
Why not?
I'm genuinely asking. People approach this topic from different sides, and I want to understand.
Because I think it is wrong to kill an individual if it is not necessary. Calorie intake is not a legitimate reason if it can also be plant-based.
most people don't believe that. I think it's fair to ask for some justification
We've been doing this for ages, actually we evolved eating meat.
We slaved colored people for ages. Woman had much less rights back in the days. We lived in caves for decades. Etc.
Just because we have been doing something for a very long time and it is socially accepted does not automatically make it right.
They are correct though, don't vegans have to take suppliments to fill in on things missing from their diet? Maybe eating less meat can be a goal for humanity, but I think we still need some until lab/fake meat is yummy enough.
Edit: now i think of it, suppliments are available so maybe my comment doesnt matter.
If you are thinking about B-12, that is already artificially added to meat products too. So even people who eat meat aren't getting it the "natural" way. Now there are available plant milks fortified with it which does the same thing.
Yes, vegans should monitor their health more closely to make sure nothing is missing, but it wouldn't be particularly difficult to get everything you need from plant based sources.
And actual milk fortified with it.
If modern medicine and things like vaccines are ok, then so are supplements.
Supplements are lower impact and less "unnatural" than animal agriculture.
I think that a reduced meat diet is good for the environment but being vegan is very far in my opinion.