Eating Meat Is Not a Moral Duty
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22370/rhv2026iss30.5134Keywords:
moral vegetariansim, animal ethics, applied ethics, meat consumption, moral obligation, animalismAbstract
This paper critically discusses a recent proposal that justifies the meat consumption of non-human animals as a moral duty for humans. First, we will briefly introduce the debate, and we will situate the various strategies used to criticise the arguments in favour of the moral permissibility of eating meat. Next, we will introduce Zangwill’s (2021) proposal, in which he presents the Mutual Benefit’s Argument to justify that meat consumption is not just morally permissible, but it is a moral duty of humans. In the last section, we will critically discuss the argument, and we will expose why it is an incorrect one, thereby arguing that there is no justification for concluding that it is a moral duty to eat meat. Finally, we will consider a new version of the argument to defend just the moral permissibility to eat meat, and we will show why it is not a correct argument. Consequently, we will conclude to eat meat is neither a moral duty nor a moral permissible act.
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