Health or Ethics

The distinction the study by Hoffman et al. makes about the motivations of vegetarians is very interesting. She divides them into two groups: those motivated by health reasons and those motivated by ethical reasons. According to the results of this study, those who are motivated by ethical reasons show a greater commitment to being a vegetarian and are less likely to give up on this lifestyle.

I suppose this makes sense in terms of consequences. The negative consequences on health from eating meat are relatively not big. However, the negative consequences on the animals that are slaughtered for food are colossal. It’s life or death for the animals when one is motivated by ethical reasons. As logical as this may seem, it is still very interesting how vegetarians motivated by ethical reasons have such a high level of compassion for animals. Most people I know do not have that level of compassion for animals who aren’t their pets. Potentially, though, for some of these people it is more about an ethical obligation than an act of compassion. Even so, it is impressive that the subjects in this study showed a greater conviction when the matter in question was about an animal living or dying than when it was about they’re own health.