Sander's Reflexions

Today someone told me Plotinus was a vegetarian. I’ve read several texts of this philosopher but I had never read he was a vegetarian. So I did a quick search on the internet. The results of a few minutes research were very surprising. I found lists of famous vegetarians with not only Plotinus, but also Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Einstein and many others. I’m just naming the philosophers and scientists, because I find their thinking more interesting than the artists that are in the list. The list is still long, so I restricted my little research to the Greek philosophers Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Plotinus.

So what is so remarkable about these lists of vegetarians? First of all they are mainly found on websites promoting vegetarianism (not very surprising though). Secondly, they are all different.
The Pendulum mentions Pythagoras, Plato, Socrates and Aristotle
Buzzle.com mentions Pythagoras, Plotinus and Plato.
The Vegetarian Society mentions Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus and Socrates.
The International Vegetarian Union mentions only Plato.
Veggie Sport Association mentions them all.
Finally, the Wikipedia contains a (disputed) list of vegetarians containing Pythagoras and Plato.

So I did some research on these philosophers.

Pythagoras is widely believed to be a vegetarian. He teachings had several dietary restrictions. However they are not undisputed as this study of Pythagoras’ life shows in section 4.3.
"A second characteristic of the Pythagorean way of life was the emphasis on dietary restrictions. There is no direct evidence for these restrictions in the pre-Aristotelian evidence, but both Aristotle and Aristoxenus discuss them extensively. Unfortunately the evidence is contradictory and it is difficult to establish any points with certainty."

I found no reference to vegetarianism in Plato's works. But found an interesting section in Plato's Republic Book 3
"My meaning may be learned from Homer; he, you know, feeds his heroes at their feasts, when they are campaigning, on soldiers' fare; they have no fish, although they are on the shores of the Hellespont, and they are not allowed boiled meats, but only roast, which is the food most convenient for soldiers, requiring only that they should light a fire, and not involving the trouble of carrying about pots and pans."
This doesn’t sound favorable for vegetarianism.

Almost everything we know about Socrates comes from the dialogs in Plato’s writings. The text above comes from one of these dialogs.

Aristotle says something about meat in ARISTOTLE'S PROBLEMS – Of the stomach:
"yet this rule is to be noted touching the order of meat, that if there be any dishes, whereof some are light of digestion, as chickens, kid, veal, soft eggs, and such like, these meats should be first eaten; but gross meats, as venison, bacon, beef, roast pork, hard eggs, and fried eggs, should be eaten last."

I have found one clear mention of Plotinus’ vegetarianism. In his biography, written by his student Porphyrius, there is one line saying that for him the eating of meat was not acceptable. Plotinus’ own writings, The Enneades, don’t mention any dietary rules at all.

The conclusion of my little research is that vegetarianism is not supported by Greek philosophers, at least not as much as the vegetarian societies pretend. Secondly, internet is a source of disputable and erroneous material.
The vegetarian claims tend towards religious fanaticism, which moulds facts to their desires.

I’m not against vegetarianism, not at all. Sometimes I cook a vegetarian meal, which leads to some protest of my daughter: “Daddy, I can’t find it! You have forgotten something. Isn’t there another pan in kitchen?”