Okay, then I think you’re completely missing my point, which is that arguing that causing less pain is good is a bad argument for veganism. Causing no pain would be the ethical argument, wouldn’t it? Causing less pain would still be unethical, right?
It’s sort of like trying to convince someone committing genocide they should stop by telling them they should slow down.
It’s not sort of like that though because the practicality of the matter is that humans have to eat to survive but they don’t have to genocide to survive. Reducing suffering as much as possible being the goal rather than eliminating it completely is not a new concept in philosophy considering eliminating suffering completely is impossible.
I don’t really have an answer to that, it is an interesting question. For me personally I don’t hold any attachment or feelings to the bodies of the deceased. When I die I’m getting one of those mushroom suits that decomposes you and quickly returns you to nature. But some people are much more attached to the bodies of the deceased whether for spiritual reasons or otherwise and I can’t really speak for them. Would eating the euthanized pets cause suffering to their previous owners, I really have no answer for that, I assume there would be some people who would suffer from that and some who wouldn’t mind. The quality of the meat I think would be very low though considering it would mostly be very senior animals with many health issues.
If the only animal corpses anyone ate was euthanized pet remains and the practice was somehow free of influencing the unnecessary euthanization of more pets, I can’t say I care. Same way I don’t really care if people eat roadkill or animal products from a dumpster. I’m not going to do it, I don’t see these things as food. And I think there’s a minuscule harm done in the proliferation of the perception of these things as food. But that harm is negligible in the face of animal agriculture which is my primary concern.
Okay, then I think you’re completely missing my point, which is that arguing that causing less pain is good is a bad argument for veganism. Causing no pain would be the ethical argument, wouldn’t it? Causing less pain would still be unethical, right?
It’s sort of like trying to convince someone committing genocide they should stop by telling them they should slow down.
It’s not sort of like that though because the practicality of the matter is that humans have to eat to survive but they don’t have to genocide to survive. Reducing suffering as much as possible being the goal rather than eliminating it completely is not a new concept in philosophy considering eliminating suffering completely is impossible.
If it is only about reducing suffering as much as possible, would harvesting the meat from euthanized pets be acceptable?
I don’t really have an answer to that, it is an interesting question. For me personally I don’t hold any attachment or feelings to the bodies of the deceased. When I die I’m getting one of those mushroom suits that decomposes you and quickly returns you to nature. But some people are much more attached to the bodies of the deceased whether for spiritual reasons or otherwise and I can’t really speak for them. Would eating the euthanized pets cause suffering to their previous owners, I really have no answer for that, I assume there would be some people who would suffer from that and some who wouldn’t mind. The quality of the meat I think would be very low though considering it would mostly be very senior animals with many health issues.
If the only animal corpses anyone ate was euthanized pet remains and the practice was somehow free of influencing the unnecessary euthanization of more pets, I can’t say I care. Same way I don’t really care if people eat roadkill or animal products from a dumpster. I’m not going to do it, I don’t see these things as food. And I think there’s a minuscule harm done in the proliferation of the perception of these things as food. But that harm is negligible in the face of animal agriculture which is my primary concern.