Many more humans would be able to “flourish” if we just ate most of them shortly after their birth. The fattest of the males might be kept as studs to continuously impregnate the females while the females’ breasts could be continuously pumped for their milk which is then bottled and sold in stores. Since we wouldn’t have to waste resources on them for things like education, medical care, bedding, or proper shelter, this could be done at a fraction of the cost of raising a regular child. We might select them from the homeless and mentally ill who are currently a net drain on resources. And what would they have to complain about? After all, they’re “flourishing.”
This only works as a reductio if you consider people and animals to have the same moral worth, and relate to them in the same way. If that kind of view is a necessary foundation for vegetarianism, then vegetarianism just becomes even more absurd. The overwhelming majority of vegetarians don’t believe anything of the sort.
If eating animals has positive value because it contributes “to the continuation of these species” as you’re claiming and humans have greater value than other animals, then a logical conclusion is that eating humans has even greater value than eating other animals because you’re maximizing the continuation of the most important species. It does not at all require equivalent moral worth.
Many more humans would be able to “flourish” if we just ate most of them shortly after their birth. The fattest of the males might be kept as studs to continuously impregnate the females while the females’ breasts could be continuously pumped for their milk which is then bottled and sold in stores. Since we wouldn’t have to waste resources on them for things like education, medical care, bedding, or proper shelter, this could be done at a fraction of the cost of raising a regular child. We might select them from the homeless and mentally ill who are currently a net drain on resources. And what would they have to complain about? After all, they’re “flourishing.”
This only works as a reductio if you consider people and animals to have the same moral worth, and relate to them in the same way. If that kind of view is a necessary foundation for vegetarianism, then vegetarianism just becomes even more absurd. The overwhelming majority of vegetarians don’t believe anything of the sort.
If eating animals has positive value because it contributes “to the continuation of these species” as you’re claiming and humans have greater value than other animals, then a logical conclusion is that eating humans has even greater value than eating other animals because you’re maximizing the continuation of the most important species. It does not at all require equivalent moral worth.
EDIT—reworded for clarity
But it does require relating to them in the same way, so re-read and try again.