Going veg: care of the animals or care of the self?

Mainstream animal ethics theories, such as Singer’s and Regan’s, argue in favor of dietary behaviors excluding at all animal derived products. According to those accounts, in our societies and in our present conditions of life discarding food obtained from animals is mandatory according to the demands of normative ethical theories. In my paper I will present a different approach to reflective moral vegetarianism (defined in a very broad sense). Moving from some critical remarks to mainstream arguments I will suggest the idea that vegetarianism ought to be more accurately regarded as a part of the self-development and care of the self of scrupulous moral agents. Born from personal reflections about the morality of human/non-human relationships vegetarianism should be regarded a way in which the agents shapes and cultivates her own character. Such a view about vegetarianism avoids the difficulties of mainstream arguments and it is more apt to account for the variety and richness of people actual choices about vegetarianism in ordinary moral experience.