Theexcuses used vary, and some of them show a certain
ingenuity.Itisworthwhileexaminingspecimensofthemain
types, for they are still encountered today.
First,andthisshouldcomeasnosurprise,thereistheDivine
Excuse.Itmaybeillustratedbythefollowingpassagefrom
WilliamPaley’sPrinciplesofMoralandPoliticalPhilosophy
(1785).Insettingout“theGeneralRightsofMankind”Paley
asks whether we have a right to the flesh of animals:
Someexcuseseemsnecessaryforthepainandlosswhichwe
occasion to brutes, by restraining them of their liberty,
mutilating theirbodies, and atlast,puttingan end to their
lives(whichwesupposetobethewholeoftheirexistence)
for our pleasure or convenience.
[Itis]allegedinvindicationofthispractice...thattheseveral
species of brutes being created to prey upon one another
affordsa kind ofanalogy to provethat thehumanspecies
were intended to feed upon them ... [but] the analogy
contendedforisextremelylame;sincebruteshavenopower
tosupportlifebyanyothermeans,andsincewehave;forthe
wholehumanspeciesmightsubsistentirelyuponfruits,pulse,
herbs and roots, as many tribes of Hindoos actually do....
Itseemstomethatitwouldbedifficulttodefendthisrightby
anyargumentswhichthelightandorderofnatureafford;and
that we are beholden for itto the permissionrecorded in
Scripture,Genesisix, 1, 2, 3.^41
Paleyisonlyoneofmanywhohaveappealedtorevelation
when they found themselves unable to give a rational
justificationofadietconsistingofotheranimals.HenrySalt