Millions of Americans wrestle with guilt over what’s on their dinner plates—concerned about the climate impact of animal agriculture, or the suffering behind factory-farmed meat. Yet, in his provocative new book The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves, philosopher John Sanbonmatsu argues that even the most conscientious meat-eaters are missing the moral truth.
Sanbonmatsu contends that the debate over “ethical” or “sustainable” meat is built on a comforting illusion. Whether the animal was raised in a feedlot or on a verdant pasture, he says, the act of killing for food cannot be reconciled with moral integrity.
In The Omnivore’s Deception, he rejects the popular narrative advanced by writers like Michael Pollan—that humans can enjoy meat responsibly—and instead calls for the complete abolition of what he terms “the animal economy.”
“Humane meat,” he insists, is a contradiction in terms. The real issue, Sanbonmatsu argues, isn’t just animal welfare or climate sustainability, but how our relationship with animals defines the meaning of being human. “The problem with raising and killing animals for food isn’t that it’s bad for the environment,” he writes. “It’s that it’s the wrong way to live a human life.”
Sanbonmatsu explores how modern society sustains moral distance from the violence of the meat industry. He will also discuss the myths—cultural, economic, and psychological—that allow most people to feel ethical while participating in systems of harm.
Guest:
John Sanbonmatsu is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. He is the editor of Critical Theory and Animal Liberation and author of The Postmodern Prince: Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and The Making of a New Political Subject.
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This interview will be recorded live Tuesday Oct. 28, 2025, at 12:00 p.m.
