[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Jamie89

It's an interesting point, something being the normal way of doing things doesn't mean it's natural, if you think about wearing clothes for example I think most people would agree it's not because it's natural... I mean we call people who don't 'naturists' yet how long have humans worn clothes for?
I think social norms probably play a big part in all of this actually, because where comparisons between us and other animals and the food chain etc (when it comes to whether or not meat eating is natural/instinctive) are concerned, it's ignoring that we're very different to most other animals in the extent to which we're effected by social conditioning, and I can only speak for myself but I'm pretty sure I don't feel instinctive urges to eat animals. If you think about the meat we eat and our urges towards it and how much we enjoy it etc we think of how it looks and tastes after cooking... not many of us would be happy eating raw animal flesh and it can also be dangerous for us to do so... we literally have to turn it into something unrecognisable for it to be appealing to us and for it to be safe, and that doesn't seem 'natural' to me? I think it's very possible that similar to the clothes example we may have started eating meat through necessity, and it developed into a social norm from there.
The more I think about it the more I think there's definitely an argument for vegetarianism as being more natural.

Nobody said natural because it's the "normal" way. But because that's how nature works.

Man didn't start cooking meat so it no longer resembled a living animal. It serves many purposes including preventing disease.