The objection
"Eating meat is natural." The author already covered this topic in Volume I. Here he looks at what people mean by it when they're talking about food.
"The human body can eat meat"
Being able to do something doesn't make it right. The human body can do lots of wrong things.
"It's instinct"
We have lots of urges, like aggression. That doesn't make following every urge right. And we can choose how to act.
"Animals eat each other"
Many animals don't eat other animals. And in nature there's also stealing, attacks, and animals killing babies. Nobody uses that as a model for how to behave.
"We're at the top of the food chain"
Nothing forces humans to eat other animals. Being at the top just means having power. And power doesn't give you the right to do anything you want.
"Without hunting, there'd be overpopulation"
Sometimes people say that if we didn't kill animals, there'd be too many of them and they'd suffer even more from lack of food. But most of the animals we eat are born because we make them be born, on farms. If we stop breeding them, they stop being born. And for wild animals, there are ways to help that don't require killing them for food.
In short
- "Natural" can mean several things, and none of them justifies exploitation.
- Animals raised for consumption exist because humans make them be born.
- Having power over others doesn't give you the right to use them.