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Not sure if this is better for SQS but - What is the steelman argument against vegetarianism/veganism? I am especially interested in claims that aren't health-based, as I know quite a few very intelligent and well-sourced vegans who have thoroughly convinced me that most health based claims are false.
I'm not a vegetarian myself but I'm reasonably convinced that I should be one, it's more of a moral failing on my part that I eat meat, not a logical stance.
I think the strongest against vegetarianism would be something along the lines of: animals have the right to exist, and meat eating is the most viable way to allow animals to exist in a human society.
I'm pretty sure most meat eaters do not think that vegetarianism is wrong, however. They simply disagree with it as a moral imperative. "There's nothing wrong with eating meat" rather than: "Not eating meat is wrong".
Generally non-nutritional arguments would be; distinguishing animal lives as lesser than human lives, believing that animals are incapable (or less capable) of suffering, or that human enjoyment of meat outweighs how an animal suffers to produce it.
Personally, I justify my meat eating habits with the second argument, and to a lesser degree the third. I think that animals (the ones I eat anyway) are capable of feeling pain, but not anguish. They cannot foresee their death, or fear the void, they can't really predict the future beyond associations with past experiences. While animals will likely feel pain when they are slaughtered, humans do a very good job of minimizing that, so that very small amount of unnecessary pain in (what should be) an otherwise happy life is well below the hedonistic enjoyment humans will gain out of the meat. I am against factory farming because of this. Meat should be a rare treat, ideally one you raise and slaughter yourself, not the everyday protein source we use it as today. Meat raised ethically is much tastier anyway, stress causes inflammation that impacts the flavor, and so does a lack of diversity in feed.
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