Justice for Animals According to Plutarch

This paper is an attempt to describe in details Plutarch’s view on the idea of justice between animals and humans, on the basis of a representative selection of passages from his works. Most of the analyzed passages are from De sollertia animalium and De esu carnium. The criterion of selection was lexical and contextual, so passages containing words semantically related to the Greek terms for justice or law were particularly taken into account, as well as assages simply referring to the subject of justice for animals from the context. The conclusion is that Plutarch believed that justice between humans and animals is possible and should be applied, but being conscious of how difficult this postulate is to achieve, he was content with urging to limit the consumption of meat.