this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2023
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By eating vegetables you are doing harm anyway, they are living organisms after all.
Even if we grant that plant "pain" is 100% morally equivalent to the pain of other beings (it isn't, and you don't earnestly believe that), we still have to eat them as a matter of biology, since humans aren't producers and must consume nutrients from other life. It's the same reason we can't pass moral judgment on a carnivore like a lion for eating a Zebra.
I am curious. Do you believe that humans has always had the option to not eat animals?
What I am asking is, is there some point during the evolution of homo sapience where it shifted from being morally acceptable to being morally wrong to eat other animals?
I'm not the same person, but it's not about our physical evolution imo. It's about advances in agriculture, our understanding of nutrition and ability to supplement or fortify foods with things like vitamin B12. Without those things, trying to cut out all animal products would probably be a terrible idea. With them, it becomes a viable choice for people with a good understanding of nutrition and without health problems that clash with veganism.
Morality depends on culture. What appeared through evolution is culture, but no one culture or the right culture. What is right in one culture is wrong in another one.
Morality depends on culture, what is wright in one culture is wrong in another. This is easy to see and pretty obvious, unless that you are some kind of supremacist that thinks that your beliefs are the only valid. If your problem is pain you can kill the animal with one shot in the head and it will be painless, some farmers do this in order to avoid suffering.
"Bro I really wanna eat your dog bro. Bro it's my culture bro just let me take a little bite bro I swear it's the most delicious thing you've ever tasted. Bro just let me eat your dog bro, what are you some kinda racist?"
Common mistake, but plants are not moral subjects. If you harm any animal, even an insect, it will respond in ways that you or I would; fleeing, retaliating, or generally just panicking. I think you already understand that plants do not (although they do have biochemical adaptations to sense and respond to stress).
Ants only "have biochemical adaptation to sense and respond to stress".
While plants don't possess some of the superior organs of animals, we're constantly being surprised by how much they actually sense and communicate. I wouldn't discount the similarities between the two kingdoms as being lesser than their differences just yet.
Other people have pointed out the differences between plants and most animals, but it's also worth noting that livestock need to eat plants. Because energy is wasted between each stage in a food chain, an omnivorous diet likely kills more plants anyway.