The vegetarian article is also notable for demonstrating how many people have no problems pronouncing “I am a vegetarian” while chewing on chicken or fish...
To me the whole problem is fascinating. I can very easily understand the idea of not wanting to kill personally, but how does one jump to not eating pre-killed meat, and especially to things that processed to the point where they don’t look like meat at all such as sausage or salami? I mean, I understand that there are a handful of efficient utilitarian altruists who care about what the outcome is for the animal and now how doing the act feels for their own purity, but I would figure most people rate actions based on how they feel. And chewing pepperoni pizza does not feel the same way as a grimy, messy, bloody pig murder. I guess I am just surprised how many people think like utilitarians, caring about the outcome for the animal, instead of what I would think the more natural, namely avoiding to do actions that feel too gruesome but happily enjoying the results if others do them.
Not eating prekilled meat and processed meat allows you to be part of a social movement and gain status. Not killing the meat personally doesn’t.
Also, people do things based on how they feel, but don’t like to be reminded of that. If the particular rationalization for doing what they feel happens to include an ethical claim, even if it is just a rationalization and they don’t understand any theories of ethics, they will avoid a broad enough category to convince themselves that they really are doing it based on ethics.
The vegetarian article is also notable for demonstrating how many people have no problems pronouncing “I am a vegetarian” while chewing on chicken or fish...
To me the whole problem is fascinating. I can very easily understand the idea of not wanting to kill personally, but how does one jump to not eating pre-killed meat, and especially to things that processed to the point where they don’t look like meat at all such as sausage or salami? I mean, I understand that there are a handful of efficient utilitarian altruists who care about what the outcome is for the animal and now how doing the act feels for their own purity, but I would figure most people rate actions based on how they feel. And chewing pepperoni pizza does not feel the same way as a grimy, messy, bloody pig murder. I guess I am just surprised how many people think like utilitarians, caring about the outcome for the animal, instead of what I would think the more natural, namely avoiding to do actions that feel too gruesome but happily enjoying the results if others do them.
Not eating prekilled meat and processed meat allows you to be part of a social movement and gain status. Not killing the meat personally doesn’t.
Also, people do things based on how they feel, but don’t like to be reminded of that. If the particular rationalization for doing what they feel happens to include an ethical claim, even if it is just a rationalization and they don’t understand any theories of ethics, they will avoid a broad enough category to convince themselves that they really are doing it based on ethics.