Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should you go vegan?
Position1 of 2›: Eating animal products is ethical
Argument‹4 of 5›: Animals do not have souls

According to many belief systems, humans are the only animals which have souls. Some believe that animals were put on earth by a creator to serve human beings, and therefore eating animal products is ethical.

The argument

In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, animals are described as subservient to humans. Their purpose is to provide for human beings. Genesis 1:26 states "God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'" Therefore, humans are entitled to the consumption of animal products by design.

Premises

[P1]In the Abrahamic traditions, animals lack souls and were created to be subservient to human beings. [P2] Scripture such as Genesis 1:26 grants humans dominion over animals, designating them as provision for humanity. [C] Therefore, consuming animal products is ethical because humans are entitled by design to use animals for food.

Counter-arguments

Whether or not animals have souls is highly debated in Christianity, and some believe that Adam and Eve were vegetarians as there is no mention that they ate animal flesh. Many animals have the qualities of some people's definition of a soul, such as emotions like grief, joy, embarrassment, and fear. Regardless of whether animals exist for human use, if we do not need animals, we should not harm them. They can still feel pain.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] It does not matter what the theological significance of animals are - this does not make it acceptable it eat them.