THE CARNIVORE'S ETHICS

Abstract

The position of veganism is ulti- mately inconsistent, speciesist and unrealistic. To be human is to fully embrace the fact that our bodies can be formed from other animals. Unlike vegans, carnivores permit themselves to be intoxicated by other animals and take plea- sure in meat eating. Nevertheless, factory farming should be rejected and meat consumed responsibly.

Keywords:

• veganism
• carnivory
• ethics
• dependence

Notes

Translated from Dominique Lestel, Apologie du carnivore (Paris: Fayard, 2011). A translation of this book is forthcoming from Columbia University Press as Eat This Book: A Meat-Eater's Manifesto.

1 In the West, the Stoics went very far in this direction. The love of fate that they proclaimed is the clearest expression of this: love that to which you are obligated. But one could go even further and say: find very positive aspects in that to which you are obligated, such that even if you have the choice you would still choose that which is imposed upon you at this moment.

2 Some would have said “deepen” rather than “extend” our awareness. Metaphors of depth always seem to me eminently suspect, and I prefer topographic and geographic metaphors. Some day I will have to return to this point.