Moral discussion: Why do you eat animals?

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Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Followed through to logical conclusion... so you eat humans too? :shadewink:

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Of course not, but if the time of life or death arised I would in order to survive.

Ah... so then you don't really treat other animals the same way you do humans. At least not if they taste good. :bigteeth:

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Originally Posted by Xaqaria

The most preferable option, yes. I think that is what the thread is about. What do you prefer, and why? If you prefer to eat meat rather than not because it tastes good, then fine. I hope you would admit that there are other factors at play besides taste, just as "because we can" is not really a sufficient answer. I'm told that babies taste particularly good as their flesh is rich in sweet fats. Hopefully we can all assume that you don't eat babies, and therefore flavor is not the sole factor in your decision making process. If by "because we can" 420Dreamer was alluding to the fact that meat is accesible and legal to consume, would you eat babies if the same were true for them?

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Funny you bring that up, if human babies were on the menu, I might give it a go. Too bad cannibalism is illegal and all. ;) As long as it didn't adversely affect me or my way of life, I'd be down for it.

There's not much new to add to this discussion (save for some discussion on cannibalism); as far as I can tell, the only factors in eating animals are taste, availability, morality, and perhaps global warming concerns; all of which are pretty easy to figure out on your own anyway. Some people like to make naturalist points but obviously that doesn't apply to the morality of the issue. I guess it just seems so simple to me that the discussion in here just seems like it only brings up obvious points. If anyone brings up an interesting point or perspective, I'll discuss that. Meanwhile, I'll be murdering cows with my shopping cart.

http://www.funnycoolstuff.com/images/biggest-burger.jpg

Figuratively, of course.

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Originally Posted by MindGames

. If anyone brings up an interesting point or perspective, I'll discuss that.

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Ditto.

Wwjd?

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Originally Posted by Somii

Wwjd?

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Fakb?

You were a carnivore? And and your girlfriends family are carnivores??? I have never seen a human carnivore.

I eat animals because of hunger.

I eat animals because I grew up eating them. Even though I eat them though, I always feel sorry for them. I would like them to have a better established life. Like in a family farm. Usually their lives are a lot better than in slaughter houses.

Also, I don't kill animals I meet for my own pleasure, it sickens me to watch that. I would only kill animals if it was necessary to my survival. Like when I see a bug, I don't squish it because what's the point? I hate how people hunt animals for fun.

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Originally Posted by Raetin

I eat animals because I grew up eating them.

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Honestly I think this is the best answer for most people, even if they say something else.

It's mainly just conditioning. You find a reliable source of nutrients, you're surrounded by it(I'm pretty sure this is why it tastes good. Sure, some of it is the raw qualia of it, but I think it's mostly just associations). It's just what everyone else does. It's easier than you might think but it does require effort to stop eating meat.

And largely the reason why people think meat tastes so good is that they don't know how to cook anything else, or at least much else. Hell a lot of people my age can't cook anything other than ramen, it's depressingly pathetic sometimes. There are so many good vegan and vegetarian dishes out there. Yet you go to a restaraunt and there's only 1 or 2 non-meat dinners.

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Originally Posted by StonedApe

Honestly I think this is the best answer for most people, even if they say something else.

It's mainly just conditioning. You find a reliable source of nutrients, you're surrounded by it(I'm pretty sure this is why it tastes good. Sure, some of it is the raw qualia of it, but I think it's mostly just associations). It's just what everyone else does. It's easier than you might think but it does require effort to stop eating meat.

And largely the reason why people think meat tastes so good is that they don't know how to cook anything else, or at least much else. Hell a lot of people my age can't cook anything other than ramen, it's depressingly pathetic sometimes. There are so many good vegan and vegetarian dishes out there. Yet you go to a restaraunt and there's only 1 or 2 non-meat dinners.

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I can cook a good vegetarian meal but I swear if I go too long without bacon something in me snaps.

Could it be your conditioned desire for bacon?(or animal flesh generally)

Geez, I know bacon tastes delicious, but I don't know if anything in me "snaps" over it. I guess I don't eat enough of it... but I'm OK with that!

So Stormcrow, are you a vegetarian? Do you believe it is immoral to eat animals?

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Originally Posted by Black_Eagle

So Stormcrow, are you a vegetarian? Do you believe it is immoral to eat animals?

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Well thanks for addressing my points but anyway yes I am a vegan. I don't think it is intrinsically immoral to eat animals but considering the fact that we can survive just as efficiently without eating the flesh of animals, I do think that to cause unnecessary suffering just to appease our taste buds is morally despicable yes. This is just a reiteration of what I have been saying this whole thread, people just don't really address my points. This topic carries alot of baggage though, I think to continue this discussion we should also address the topic of ethics a bit more, what is the foundation of morality, how can we determine whether an action is "good" or "bad", etc.

I haven't really figured morality out myself yet, but it stems from our ability to empathize with other people and organisms. Doing right by other people generally means helping them, while doing wrong generally means harming others. Obviously some harm can be done for the sake of a greater good and vice versa, but it's generally about the intent of the person doing the action. That's about the best explanation I can give at this point, as it's a pretty complicated subject.