The Ethics of Eating Animals Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Ethics of Eating Animals - Research Paper Example To understand the justification for the annihilation of animals based on their lack of intelligence and feeling, consider the treatment of two domestic animals a dog and a sheep. The latter is considered to be less intelligent than the former; therefore it can be slaughtered for food while the former becomes man’s best friend. In reality, the two are not very different in terms of mental abilities, however for humans to justify killing sheep; they have to make them look stupid and therefore deserving of death as opposed to dogs which deserve to live based on their assumed intelligence. Furthermore, even if one was to assume for argument's sake that some animals are more intelligent than others, this is hardly reason enough to take away their right to live. There is a great incongruity created by the inconsistency between the love for animals and the enjoyment of meat, raising concerns for animal’s rights activists who have to contend with the fact that despite claiming to love animals, most people still enjoy meat. Clearly, nobody thinks about where meat comes from, the process it takes before reaching the consumer and the fact that human also has bodies resembling meat. There are many inconsistencies between beliefs and behaviors concerning meat eating; hence, nobody is quite sure whether they are doing the right thing. To most civilized societies, eating the meat of a fellow human being is the epitome of savagery and primitiveness and it shows that those involved are evil and extremely immoral.... Furthermore, even if one was to assume for arguments sake that some animals are more intelligent than others, this is hardly reason enough to take away their right to live. There is a great incongruity created by the inconsistency between the love for animals and the enjoyment of meat, raising concerns for animal’s rights activists who have to contend with the fact that despite claiming to love animals, most people still enjoy meat. (Overal, 2012). Clearly, nobody thinks about where meat comes from, the process it takes before reaching the consumer and the fact that human also have bodies resembling meat. Wade (2000) argues that there are many inconsistencies between beliefs and behaviors concerning meat eating; hence, nobody is quite sure whether they are doing the right thing. To most civilized societies, eating the meat of a fellow human being is the epitome of savagery and primitiveness and it shows that those involved are evil and extremely immoral. How true this is argua ble, however, the same can be said of humans who kill animals for the sake of satisfying their craving for meat. At the end of the day, in both cases, there will be predation and destruction of living animals for food. In the case of modern man, it is even worse since there exists numerous alternatives to meet and they can survive comfortably without eating meat as indeed many vegetarians do. For meat lovers to enjoy their fare, they mentally disengage their eating habits from the brutality and death that precedes their meal. One of the means by which this is achieved is by disassociating the meat from the animal, for example eating pork not pig, or mutton not sheep, thereby they try to completely alienate the