Thursday 21 October 2010

Dean Inge and his vegetarian critics


Do animals reared on farms (traditional or factory) owe their entire existence to the human appetite?

The Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) believed that pigs held a vested interest in pork despite himself being a prominent advocate of animals' rights. Indeed the clergyman's contention became so controversial during the 1920s and 30s, as to seduce one of the most famous advocates of vegetarianism of all time, George Bernard Shaw.

However, the underlying philosophical retort to Inge's case was frequently presented by Henry Salt, as appears to have been the case in this anonymous piece of satire which appeared in The Vegetarian News (May 1932.)

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