Culture and meat-eating: A critique of anthropocentrism in animal ethics

Atoosa Afshari

The Ecological Citizen Vol 9 No 1 2026: epub-143-1 to 7

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First published: 25 October 2025 | PERMANENT URL | DOWNLOAD CITATION IN RIS FORMAT

Abstract

Despite theoretical diversity, the field of animal ethics often filters animal suffering through human-centred frameworks that obscure urgent ethical questions raised by the global meat industry. Well-meaning efforts to respect cultural difference result in a multi-layered ethical filter that systematically deprioritizes animal life, uses appeals to culture to justify and excuse systemic harms to animals, and shifts responsibility for those harms away from individuals. To address this, animal ethics needs to reorient itself towards listening – remaining open to uncomfortable claims, including critiques of meat consumption and its relation to culture, rather than filtering them out under the guise of cultural respect.

Keywords

Animal ethics, Anthropocentrism, Human supremacy

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