Rakuen Growlithe wrote:"how do I meet my requirements in the least harmful way possible?" The second asks questions like "How can I justify doing what I want to do?"
I think you're making too binary a distinction between need and want. You keep saying that using animals products in various situations is "not necessary", but that means absolutely nothing. It's not necessary for us to have jobs, wear clothes, breathe, or even be alive for that matter.
Rakuen Growlithe wrote:In the absence of any evidence of their suffering we can say they don't suffer. Conciousness is not arbitrary. Perhaps you would like to volunteer for surgery both while concious and while unconscious and see if it has any bearing on your capacity to suffer?
There is evidence. There isn't much, but there are hints of a pseudo-nervous system of electrical impulses in plants, and other signs of primitive sentience. Also I was using the word "consciousness" in the same sense you were: awareness of the self, not a state of being awake as opposed to asleep.
Rakuen Growlithe wrote:Leeward wrote:I think this has a lot to do with coming to terms with the existence of the food web, and that whether we like it or not, we are a part of it.
No! That has absolutely nothing to do with it. An appeal to nature is not a way to find out moral truths, the "can't derive ought from is." There are many natural things that are bad and which we oppose, such as diseases, death in childhood, rape and murder. And many unnatural things which are good and we love, such as the internet, books and the furry fandom.
Of course is has to do with it. I'm not saying the food web has a bearing on moral issues, I am merely pointing out the indisputable fact that we are part of it, and as such, since we cannot photosynthesise, have to sustain ourselves by consuming other lifeforms, be they plants or animals. As evidenced by our dentition and digestive system, we are descended from omnivorous ancestors, and it is therefore reasonable for us to have some amount of meat in our diet. Not strictly speaking necessary, but reasonable.