History And Philosophy Of Vegetarianism :: essays research papers

Vegetarianism is the theory or practice of living solely on vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts. It is practiced for moral, ascetic or nutritional reasonsIn Western society now meat in many different forms is readily and economically available, yet the current trend shows a growing number of conscious vegetarians around the world. In the United States, roughly 3 to 4 percent of the total populations are considered vegetarian. The origins of modern day Vegetarian philosophy and its influences can be traced back nearly lead thousand years. . Most vegetarians are people who have understood that to contribute towards a more peaceful society we must first solve the trouble of violence in our own hearts. So its not surprising that thousands of people from all walks of life have, in their search for truth, become vegetarian. Many well know influential philosophers have both preached as well as practiced its inherent advantages.The earliest archeological data we have that suggest a volun tary partial vegetarian diet is the Old kingdom of Egypt. There are hieroglyphic inscriptions, which suggest the avoidance of eating some animals. The priests avoided eating pig for its lack of cleanliness, and frighten for their belief that it was sacred mainly did this. This is believed to been practiced as early as 3000 BC. There are few historical sources on the practice of abstaining from meat in ancient Egypt, but we do know it directly influenced the beliefs held across the Mediterranean in Greece.Pythagoras was born off the coast of Turkey on the Island of Samos in the sixth century BC. He is most famous for his well-known proposition about right angle triangles, known as the Pythagorean theorem. Having spent time in Egypt and Babylon, much of his main philosophical teachings are a combination of ideas expressed in the places he traveled to. Pythagoras preached the soul as being abstract and immortal. A soul is within all living creatures, and therefore all creatures, man o r beast deserve to be treated com channelizeionately. The soul was said to pass between lives into different living creatures. Therefore in eating the flesh of an animal, one could be eating the flesh of a deceased cousin. This was somewhat revolutionary for a world in which religious ritual was centered on animal sacrifice. He also believed in the concept that an eternal world which was revealed to the reason through continuous ascetic routines rather then the senses.