I find your answer to the question about wild animals very interesting. However, I am unsure what it implies. What would be the preferences of a deer itself if it could think of its own future as humans do? It would surely want to continue living in its natural habit, but would it want to die the way it can expect to do so in nature? Would it prefer that kind of death to being shot? (Or do you think none of these questions has ethical significance?) And actually, I don’t know whether there is a literature on the ethics of cannibalism, but I would guess that there are reasons of biological and cultural evolution why this does not exist. So I assume people would find the idea disgusting, and many vegetarians find the idea of eating animals disgusting, but this does not really say much about (normative) ethics, or does it?
The preferences of a deer as far as I can reasonably assume are probably A: avoid death, B: avoid pain, and C: seek pleasure. Deer might (and probably do) have more complicated understandings of the world, but in the absence of a deer psychic I can’t really base anything off that assumption. I think it’s safe to assume a deer would prefer not to be shot by a hunter in the vast majority of situations. Furthermore, it should be noted that younger animals are often hunted rather than ones approaching death, so the difference between getting killed by a hunter or dying as they would in their natural habitat is also a difference between a huge part of their lifespan. It’s reasonable to assume deer would prefer to extend their lifespan in most cases. I think these questions have ethical significance, but in the context of discussing whether it’s acceptable to kill and eat animals, I think it distracts from the primary disagreements. Sure, death by bullet is probably preferable to death in nature, but at no particular point should we assume that a healthy, young deer would like to be shot. Similarly, I would prefer to die by a bullet than in a hospital bed, but at no particular point as a healthy person would I like someone to shoot me.
I don’t consider cannibalism to be wrong. I don’t practice it and it sort of ekes me out, but I have no problem with ritual or cultural cannibalism so long as no sacrifice is made. In this particular way, my views on cannibalism are analogous to my ones on carnism. I have no problem with someone eating their pet dog, for example, after they die. If that person were to start slaughtering dogs to satiate his tastes, however, I’d have an objection. When comparing eating meat to eating humans, I’ll almost always imply that a human is being killed against their will in the process.
I find your answer to the question about wild animals very interesting. However, I am unsure what it implies. What would be the preferences of a deer itself if it could think of its own future as humans do? It would surely want to continue living in its natural habit, but would it want to die the way it can expect to do so in nature? Would it prefer that kind of death to being shot? (Or do you think none of these questions has ethical significance?) And actually, I don’t know whether there is a literature on the ethics of cannibalism, but I would guess that there are reasons of biological and cultural evolution why this does not exist. So I assume people would find the idea disgusting, and many vegetarians find the idea of eating animals disgusting, but this does not really say much about (normative) ethics, or does it?
The preferences of a deer as far as I can reasonably assume are probably A: avoid death, B: avoid pain, and C: seek pleasure. Deer might (and probably do) have more complicated understandings of the world, but in the absence of a deer psychic I can’t really base anything off that assumption. I think it’s safe to assume a deer would prefer not to be shot by a hunter in the vast majority of situations. Furthermore, it should be noted that younger animals are often hunted rather than ones approaching death, so the difference between getting killed by a hunter or dying as they would in their natural habitat is also a difference between a huge part of their lifespan. It’s reasonable to assume deer would prefer to extend their lifespan in most cases. I think these questions have ethical significance, but in the context of discussing whether it’s acceptable to kill and eat animals, I think it distracts from the primary disagreements. Sure, death by bullet is probably preferable to death in nature, but at no particular point should we assume that a healthy, young deer would like to be shot. Similarly, I would prefer to die by a bullet than in a hospital bed, but at no particular point as a healthy person would I like someone to shoot me.
I don’t consider cannibalism to be wrong. I don’t practice it and it sort of ekes me out, but I have no problem with ritual or cultural cannibalism so long as no sacrifice is made. In this particular way, my views on cannibalism are analogous to my ones on carnism. I have no problem with someone eating their pet dog, for example, after they die. If that person were to start slaughtering dogs to satiate his tastes, however, I’d have an objection. When comparing eating meat to eating humans, I’ll almost always imply that a human is being killed against their will in the process.