Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat

by Steve F. Sapontzis (Editor)

Overview

For anyone who has ever wondered about the ethics of killing animals for food, this is the definitive collection of essays on the ethical debate. Written by internationally recognized scholars on both sides of the debate, the provocative articles here compiled will give vegetarians and meat-eaters a thorough grounding in all aspects of this controversial issue.After an introduction to the nature of the debate by editor Steve F. Sapontzis, Daniel Dombrowski reviews the history of vegetarianism. There follows a discussion of health issues and what anthropology has to tell us about human diet. Also included are the classic cases for vegetarianism from philosophers Peter Singer and Tom Regan, and new essays rebutting those classic positions from humanists Roger Scruton and Carl Cohen, among others. Various scholars then examine religious teachings about eating animals, which are drawn from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as Native American and Eastern traditions. Finally, Carol J. Adams, Deanne Curtin, and Val Plumwood, among other outstanding advocates, debate the ethics of eating meat in connection with feminism, environmentalism, and multiculturalism.Containing virtually a "Who's Who" of philosophers, social critics, environmentalists, feminists, and religious scholars who have participated in the vegetarianism debate over the past quarter century, this outstanding anthology of expert articles, most of them new, provides the latest thinking on a subject of increasing public interest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591021186
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/01/2004
Series:	Rosen Contemporary Issues
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	382
Product dimensions:	5.46(w) x 8.48(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Steve F. Sapontzis (Ft. Bragg, CA), now retired, was professor of philosophy at California State University for over 25 years. He is the author of Morals, Reason, and Animals, and numerous articles on animal rights.

Table of Contents

	Editor's Introduction	9
Section 1	A Controversy with a Long Past
1.	A Very Brief History of Philosophical Vegetarianism and Its Influence	22
Section 2	What Anthropology and Medicine Have to Tell Us about Eating Meat
2.	What Is Our Natural Diet, and Should We Really Care	36
3.	Vegetarianism: The Healthy Alternative	46
4.	Nutritional Risks of Vegan Diets	57
Section 3	The Recent Philosophical Debate over the Moral Status of Animals and Its Implications for Our Diet
5.	The Basic Argument for Vegetarianism	70
6.	The Conscientious Carnivore	81
7.	The Right Not to Be Eaten	92
8.	Animal Liberation: Vegetarianism as Protest	108
9.	Utilitarianism and Moral Vegetarianism Again: Protest or Effectiveness?	118
10.	Why It's Wrong to Eat Animals Raised and Slaughtered for Food	124
11.	Vegetarianism and the Ethics of Virtue	138
12.	A Critique of the Alleged Moral Basis of Vegetarianism	152
Section 4	Traditional and Contemporary Religious Teachings about Our Relation to Animals
13.	The Jewish Diet and Vegetarianism	168
14.	Christians Are What Christians Eat	177
15.	The Theological Debate about Meat Eating	186
16.	The Consumption of Animals and the Catholic Tradition	198
17.	Is Vegetarianism Un-Islamic?	209
18.	Eastern Religions and the Eating of Meat	223
19.	Ask Your Brother for Forgiveness: Animal Respect in Native American Traditions	236
Section 5	The Feminist Debate over the Relation Between the Treatment of Animals and of Women
20.	The Sexual Politics of Meat	248
21.	A Paradox of Ethical Vegetarianism: Unfairness to Women and Children	261
22.	Contextual Moral Vegetarianism	272
23.	Empathy and Vegetarian Commitments	284
Section 6	The Environmental Debate over Respecting Predatory Nature and Protecting Animals
24.	Bambi Lovers versus Tree Huggers	294
25.	Vegetarianism, Predation, and Respect for Nature	302
26.	Moderation, Morals, and Meat	315
27.	Vegetarianism and Ecofeminism: Toppling Patriarchy with a Fork	327
Section 7	Which Is More Important, Respecting Cultural Diversity of Protecting Animals?
28.	Animals and Ecology: Toward a Better Integration	344
29.	Subsistence Hunting	359
	Further Reading	371
	List of Contributors	375