If this were merely about a concern for the affective state of supporters of animal rights, you could just meat and then lie about it.
What I got out of your post was a game theory strategy, a sort of special case of the Golden Rule, by which you might decide to not eat meat in deference to supporters of animal rights — even when no one is looking — because there are certain behaviors you would like others to adopt reciprocally. Maybe you’re a supporter of, um, turnips’ rights, and you want others to refrain from eating turnips, at least where doing so would not be an inconvenience. So we have a Prisoner’s Dilemma where you can eat animals or not, and the other player can eat turnips or not, and the best outcome is if everyone abstains from animals and turnips.
There’s the game theory consideration, certainly, but also I directly prefer a world in which people’s preferences are satisfied. Though this preference isn’t strong, I’m wondering if it could be strengthened through reflection and what the effects would be.
If this were merely about a concern for the affective state of supporters of animal rights, you could just meat and then lie about it.
What I got out of your post was a game theory strategy, a sort of special case of the Golden Rule, by which you might decide to not eat meat in deference to supporters of animal rights — even when no one is looking — because there are certain behaviors you would like others to adopt reciprocally. Maybe you’re a supporter of, um, turnips’ rights, and you want others to refrain from eating turnips, at least where doing so would not be an inconvenience. So we have a Prisoner’s Dilemma where you can eat animals or not, and the other player can eat turnips or not, and the best outcome is if everyone abstains from animals and turnips.
There’s the game theory consideration, certainly, but also I directly prefer a world in which people’s preferences are satisfied. Though this preference isn’t strong, I’m wondering if it could be strengthened through reflection and what the effects would be.