ABSTRACT
Chapter 9, “The ethics of food consumption,” discusses the implications of these impacts for the ethics of food consumption. If a particular industry causes unnecessary harm to humans, nonhumans, and the environment, is it morally wrong to support that industry as a consumer? How much–if at all–does the answer to this question depend on the degree to which we make a contribution to that system or have other options? We start by considering arguments for ethical consumption as well as for different kinds of ethical diets. We then consider the two main objections to arguments for ethical consumption: the futility objection, according to which ethical consumption does not make a difference, and is therefore not morally required, and the demandingness objection, according to which ethical consumption is very demanding, and is therefore not morally required. Along the way we consider many costs and benefits of different kinds of ethical consumption.
