Editing Vegetarianism (section)

=== Ethics of killing for food ===
{{Main|Bioethics}}
Ethical vegetarians believe that killing an animal, like killing a human, especially one who has equal or lesser cognitive abilities than the animals in question, can only be justified in extreme circumstances and that consuming a living creature for its enjoyable taste, convenience, or [[nutrition]] value is not a sufficient cause.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Lindeman M., Väänänen M. | year = 2000 | title = Measurement of ethical food choice motives | journal = Appetite | volume = 34 | issue = 1| pages = 55–59 | doi = 10.1006/appe.1999.0293 | pmid = 10744892 | s2cid = 37406748 }}</ref> Another common view is that humans are morally conscious of their behavior in a way other animals are not, and therefore subject to higher standards.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Why the Naive Argument against Moral Vegetarianism Really is Naive|journal=Environmental Values|year=2001|pages=103–112|volume=10|issue=1|doi=10.3197/096327101129340769|author=David Benatar|bibcode=2001EnvV...10..103B }}</ref> [[Jeff McMahan (philosopher)|Jeff McMahan]] proposes that denying the right to life and humane treatment to animals with equal or greater cognitive abilities than mentally disabled humans is an arbitrary and discriminatory practice based on habit instead of logic.<ref>{{cite book|last1=McMahan|first1=Jeff|title=The Ethics of Killing|date=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Opponents of ethical vegetarianism argue that animals are not [[Moral equivalence|moral equals]] to humans and so consider the comparison of eating livestock with killing people to be fallacious. This view does not excuse cruelty, but maintains that animals do not possess the rights a human has.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iep.utm.edu/anim-eth/#SH2b |title=Animals and Ethics [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy&#93; |publisher=Iep.utm.edu |date=January 13, 2010 |access-date=September 12, 2012 |archive-date=July 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705222257/http://www.iep.utm.edu/anim-eth/#SH2b |url-status=live }}</ref>