Would the virtuous person eat animals? According to some ethicists, the answer is a resounding no, at least for the virtuous person living in an affluent society. The virtuous person cares about animal suffering, and so, she will not contribute to practices that involve animal suffering when she can easily adopt a strict plant-based diet. The virtuous person is temperate, and temperance involves not indulging in unhealthy diets, which include diets that incorporate animals. Moreover, it is unjust for an animal to be killed for food when this is unnecessary. By contrast, I argue that the virtuous person in an affluent society would eat animals, at least sometimes. I explain how the very virtues thought to motivate “virtuous modest veganism”—compassion, temperance, and justice—motivate the virtuous person to consume some animals.

有德行的人会吃动物吗？根据一些伦理学家的说法，答案是否定的，至少对于生活在富裕社会的有德的人来说是这样。有德的人关心动物的痛苦，因此，当她可以轻松地采用严格的植物性饮食时，她不会参与涉及动物痛苦的实践。有德的人是温和的，节制包括不沉迷于不健康的饮食，包括包含动物的饮食。此外，在不必要的情况下，为了食物而杀死动物是不公平的。相比之下，我认为富裕社会中的有德的人会吃动物，至少有时是这样。我解释了被认为能激发“有德的温和素食主义”的美德——同情、节制和正义——如何激励有德的人食用一些动物。