When people learn that I’m vegetarian they inevitably ask why. Especially since I only gave up meat about 5 months ago. The simple reason is Peter Singer. He is an applied ethicist whose writing provided the main intellectual impetus for the animal rights movement. Here is a basic outline of the argument that caused me to foreswear meat. 1. Suffering is bad. 2. Since suffering is bad it should be avoided except at the cost of something with equal moral value. For example one starving person isn’t compelled to give what food he has to another starving person to alleviate his or her suffering. 3. Whether or not the being suffering is a member of our species is irrelevant. Simply because the flesh of an animal may taste good doesn’t mean that it deserves to be slaughtered.