.jpg) First edition cover | |
| Author | Howard Williams |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | History of vegetarianism,ethics of eating meat |
| Publisher |
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Publication date | 1883 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Media type | |
| Pages | xii + 336 |
| OCLC | 1045396368 |
| Text | The Ethics of Diet atProject Gutenberg |
The Ethics of Diet: A Catena of Authorities Deprecatory of the Practice of Flesh-eating is an 1883 book by English humanitarianHoward Williams, published byF. Pitman and John Heywood. It presents a chronological anthology of historical figures who criticised meat-eating, including philosophers, poets, physicians, and reformers, compiling moral and philosophical arguments against animal consumption from antiquity to the nineteenth century. Originally serialised inTheDietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger, it was later issued in book form.
The book contributed to early debates on theethics of eating meat and to the growth of theVictorian vegetarian movement. It influenced figures such asHenry S. Salt,Leo Tolstoy,Mohandas Gandhi, andJaime de Magalhães Lima. The work has since been recognised as a foundational text in thehistory of vegetarianism and has been reissued in several revised and translated editions.
Howard Williams (1837–1931) was an English writer and humanitarian who adoptedvegetarianism in 1872 and later became anopponent of vivisection. Educated atSt John's College, Cambridge, he supported himself through private means and occasional tutoring, devoting much of his life to literary and ethical pursuits. His interest in historical and moral arguments against flesh-eating led him to compileThe Ethics of Diet.[1]
First published in book form in 1883, it presents a chronological anthology of influential voices who rejected meat-eating, including philosophers, poets, religious figures, physicians, and social reformers. Williams draws on sources fromantiquity to the 19th century, offering a biographical and literary survey of arguments forethical vegetarianism. By assembling this "catena of authorities", he aimed to demonstrate that opposition to flesh-eating had deep roots across cultures, traditions, and eras.[2]
In the preface, Williams likens the ethical awakening against animal slaughter to humanity's historical rejection of cannibalism and human sacrifice. He predicts that future generations will view the contemporary exploitation and killing of animals with the same horror, and he calls for a civilisation guided by compassion, refinement, and justice toward all sentient beings. He argues that the cruelties of butchery and the consumption of flesh degrade both individuals and society, contributing to insensibility, gluttony, and social injustice.
It has been well said … that there are steps on the way to the summit of Dietetic Reform, and, if only one step be taken, yet that single step will be not without importance and without influence in the world. The step, which leaves for ever behind it the barbarism of slaughtering our fellow-beings, the Mammals and Birds, is, it is superfluous to add, the most important and most influential of all.
The main body of the work consists of biographical and philosophical sketches of over 150 figures, divided into fifty chapters. It begins withancient Greek authors such asHesiod,Pythagoras, andPlato, who are portrayed as early advocates of bloodless living. Pythagoras receives particular emphasis as a seminal figure in anti-carnivorous ethics, with his doctrine of metempsychosis and rejection of animal sacrifice presented as foundational. Plato's ideal republic is noted for its preference for simple, plant-based food and critique of luxurious diets.
Williams notes the contributions of Roman authors likeOvid,Seneca, andPlutarch, the last of whom wrote two treatises specifically on abstinence from flesh. These classical writers are shown to have linked vegetarianism to moral purification, self-control, and resistance to cruelty. Christian figures such asClement of Alexandria,Tertullian,Chrysostom, and early ascetics are cited for their opposition to meat-eating as part of a spiritual discipline, although Williams also critiques the historical Church for abandoning this ethic in later centuries.
The Renaissance and Enlightenment chapters examine thinkers likeErasmus,Thomas More,Montaigne, andRousseau. Williams gives special attention to Rousseau's assertion that pity is a natural human instinct, suppressed by the habits of flesh-eating. He includes numerous 17th- and 18th-century physicians and naturalists such asGassendi,Cheyne,Ray, andLinnaeus, who used anatomical, physiological, and moral arguments to suggest that humans are not naturally carnivorous.
A major focus of the book is the Romantic and early modern era, with figures likeWilliam Cowherd,Percy Bysshe Shelley,Joseph Ritson, andWilliam Lambe portrayed as pioneers of modern vegetarianism. Shelley's writings, in particular, are quoted at length for their passionate denunciations of the violence and degradation inherent in meat consumption. Williams also includes contemporaries such asGleizes,Michelet,Lamartine, andSchopenhauer, as well as reformers associated with the Vegetarian Society (founded in 1847), includingWilliam Metcalfe andSylvester Graham.
In addition to ethical and spiritual motives, Williams includes arguments based on hygiene, social economy, and compassion. He describes how the slaughterhouse, the use of animals for food, and the "barbarous custom" of flesh-eating have been denounced on grounds of health, waste, and moral coarseness. Wiliams maintains that true civilisation must reject the "reign of violence" over animals and replace it with a humane and rational mode of living.
The book concludes with an appendix of additional authors and authorities not included in the main chapters, including excerpts fromBuddhist scriptures and from later Western writers such asJeremy Bentham andLord Byron. Throughout, Williams combines historical narrative, excerpted texts, and his own editorial commentary to argue that ethical vegetarianism is not a modern fad but a deeply rooted moral tradition.
The Ethics of Diet has been recognised as an important contribution to the growth of theVictorian vegetarian movement.[4] It influenced several leading figures in the movement, includingHenry S. Salt,Leo Tolstoy,Mohandas Gandhi, and theTolstoyan writerJaime de Magalhães Lima.[5][6]
Gandhi later recalled the book's influence in his autobiography:[7]
My faith in vegetarianism grew on me from day to day. Salt's bookPlea for Vegetarianism whetted my appetite for dietetic studies. I went in for all books available on vegetarianism and read them. One of these, Howard Williams'The Ethics of Diet, was a 'biographical history of the literature of humane dietetics from the earliest period to the present day'.
Tolstoy regarded the book highly,[8]: 83 writing:
The precise reason why abstinence from animal food will be the first act of fasting and of a moral life is admirably explained in the book,The Ethics of Diet; and not by one man only, but by all mankind in the persons of its best representatives during all the conscious life of humanity.[8]: 91–92
Salt praised the book as "by far the most scholarly and exhaustive" of recent works onanimal rights in his 1892Animals' Rights: Considered in Relation to Social Progress.[9] Lima also drew heavily on Williams' work in his 1912 lectureO Vegetarismo e a Moralidade das Raças ("Vegetarianism and the Morality of the Races").[6]
The Ethics of Diet was first published in serial form between 1878 and 1883 inThe Dietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger, the monthly journal of theVegetarian Society.[10][11] It was first issued in book form in 1883 byF. Pitman in London and John Heywood in Manchester.[12]
A revised and enlarged edition appeared in 1896 under the new title,The Ethics of Diet: A Biographical History of the Literature of Human Dietetics, From the Earliest Period to the Present Day.[10] This edition included additional chapters on figures such asAsoka,Oliver Goldsmith,Henry David Thoreau,Richard Wagner, andAnna Kingsford.[13] In 1907,Albert Broadbent published an abridged version.[14]
Translations of the book were also published. A Russian edition appeared in 1892, featuring a foreword byLeo Tolstoy titled"The First Step".[10] A Swedish translation by Victor Pfeiff was published in Stockholm in 1900.[15]
Over time, the book became a rarity, available only in select libraries.[16] In 2003, theUniversity of Illinois Press published a new edition, edited by feminist andanimal rights authorCarol J. Adams.[17] In her introduction, Adams wrote that Williams' work "reinstates vegetarianism as an ethical imperativewithin history by giving it a history".[18]
Not unimportant in the momentum gathered by the Vegetarian Movement in late Victorian England was a book by one Howard Williams entitled The Ethics of Diet, which was published in 1890.
