I have already explored some of the environmental, health, and economic problems with meat production, but I have yet to discuss the ethical problems. What is it that makes the treatment of an animal unethical? Is it possible to raise animals or eat ethically? These are just a few questions that immediately come to mind. In “The Ethics of Eating Animals”, a chapter from The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores the question; is it ethical to eat animals? Writing this chapter Pollan comes in with a certain bias because he, at least at the point of writing the book, is a vegetarian so would be inclined to answer the question with a no. Pollan, however, does an excellent job of expressing both sides of the issue and does not let his own bias bleed strongly into the writing.
The majority of the animals we eat have complex enough nervous systems that most scientists agree that they can feel pain. Whether or not we should be allowed to cause animals pain and suffering is up to debate but at the center of the issue of ethics. Why should humans have the right to end the lives of other animals just because we dominate them? The argument that I found most interesting, however, was Pollan’s evolutionary look at the issue. If man stopped eating meat than the many species that thrived in our meat producing industry may cease to exist. Domesticated animals rely on us to survive, thus their number one interest is that we still have a reason to take care of them. However, if there were no more pigs then there would be no more suffering pigs.
Another interesting way of thinking of the issue is to look at how many animals are killing in the growing and harvesting of crops. The countless animals that are killed in the plowing and tilling of fields and the animals that are killed through the use of pesticides, both directly and indirectly have to be taken into account. Some suggest that if your intent is to kill the fewest animals, the best diet may be the biggest animal possible, such as grass feed beef cattle.
Your doing a great job in your posts of concisely summarizing the main points--that's a difficult thing to do! You've also been showing in your posts an ability to see the issues from a sociological perspective--also not an always easy thing to do! You do a good job of stepping back from the individual arguments and looking at how a system is functioning as a whole. It's often the tendency to look at what individuals are doing (whether they be consumers, producers, or other actors) and ask questions about how individuals might act differently, but you demonstrate a tendency to point to larger forces beyond the individual that need to be addressed first. That's the sociological perspective that this course is trying to emphasize, and it seems from your posts and comments in class that you see that. Nice work!
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