>>20796176>Why is it more moral to eat plants over animals exactly?It’s commonly thought that plants cannot feel pain and are likely not phenomenally conscious at all. Thus plants cannot be said to have moral status, unlike say chickens or fish.
It’s worth nothing however that even if one believes that plants held moral status, it would still probably be preferable to be vegan for a few reasons — most plants are raised and killed to feed other animals, namely the ones we eat. So if we wanted to minimize our plant consumption, not raising animals that require producing many more plants than we would need to feed ourselves seems right. Also, factory farms are bad in a host of ways that plant farms are not. They contribute to pandemic risk, contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, and produce food which on balance is considerably less healthy for us. So still, really no matter what you think of the moral status of plants, you shouldn’t be eating meat.
