Hunting in Morally Acceptable

When a wealthy American dentist killed a prized African lion he unintentionally reignited the debate concerning the morality of hunting. In this essay, I am going to provide an argument for the morality of hunting. Hunting, when performed with correct moral intentions and in compliance with regulations, is a morally acceptable act. I will first provide background definitions used in my essay followed by a formal layout of my argument. Next, I will discuss each premise of my argument separately and explain how they prove my argument plausible. Lastly, I will consider an objection to my argument and respond to it accordingly.

I must first provide two background definitions regarding my essay to ensure a common viewpoint between the reader and myself. Hunting, as defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, is the pursuit of game animals, principally as sport. This is the definition most people recall when they think of hunting. However, for my purposes, I am going to define hunting more broadly as the pursuit, capture, or killing of game animals. In this essay I also speak of pests. The Oxford dictionary defines a pest as a destructive insect or other animal that attacks crops, food, livestock, etc. This definition will suffice for my argument.

1. An action is permissible if and only if, of those actions that satisfy certain specified constraints, it has consequences that are sufficiently morally good (LaFollette).

2. Feeding a family and providing a family with clothes, bedding, or other items for use are both morally good acts because they provide the best overall consequences.

3. The removal of certain pests from an environment to save that environment’s ecosystem is morally good because it provides the best overall ...

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...ional argument to show that certain hunting is morally acceptable. The earth cannot rule out hunting altogether because it in fact is a vital part of the world’s ecosystem. Hunting in this way provides the best overall consequences compared to its alternatives and is therefore moral. As long as one’s desires are intact and their actions pure, then they are morally right in their option to hunt.

Works Cited

"Animal Pests." Organic Gardening. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 July 2015.

"Definition of Pest." Oxford Dictionaries. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 July 2015.

"How Much Meat Will Your Deer Yield?" Butcher & Packer, Sausage Making and Meat Processing Supplies. N.p., 10 July 2005. Web. 31 July 2015.

"Hunting." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 31 July 2015.

LaFollette, Hugh, ed. Ethics in Practice: An Anthology. 3rd ed. Malden: Blackwell, 2007. Print.