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"Virtue is about human character; treating animals well matters only because it makes us better."
Virtue ethics: the principle
Cultivate virtues like compassion, justice and temperance, and avoid vices like cruelty.
Why excluding animals contradicts the principle
- Compassion is directed at the one who suffers. If the animal's suffering did not matter in itself, there would be nothing for compassion to respond to.
- A just and compassionate person who pays for the avoidable suffering of others acts against their own virtues.
- Reducing the animal's value to its effect on our character is the same structure as Kant's indirect duties, which almost no one accepts (A20).
The strongest counter-reply
The most serious version says a virtuous person can eat meat with moderation and gratitude, without cruelty.
The answer
Moderation applies to what affects only ourselves, not to harm to others (E5). And when there is an alternative, causing someone's death for a meal is hard to reconcile with compassion.
See also
E5 Everything in moderation.E8 I love animals, but...A20 Humans have intrinsic value; animals have instrumental value.