Leon Kass and a 'Higher Vegetarianism'
by Paul Gallagher
Interdisciplinary Environmental Review (IER), Vol. 5, No. 2, 2003

Abstract: Leon Kass argues that there is a qualitative difference between homo sapiens and the rest of the animal kingdom. This difference is based upon psychical capacities that emerge from our upright position. From this, Kass goes on to make the controversial claim that homo sapiens are by nature meat-eating animals. In his estimation, most vegetarian diets are justified only by erasing the hierarchical difference between man and animal. In this chapter, I argue for the plausibility of Kass's position, while at the same time argue that his conclusion, that we are by nature meat-eating animals, has ethically unacceptable environmental consequences.

Online publication date: Mon, 13-May-2013

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