Philosophy
One of the recurring themes in human history has been the blindness that those in power experience with regard to those they manage to subjugate. The question of the interests of the latter seldom breach the surface of the former's consideration.
We may feel enlightened that we're way in the process of overcoming sexism, nationalism, racism and a bunch of other unjustified separations into "us" and "them," but if you just take a minute to think about it, our treatment of non-human animals, growing them, usually in unimaginably cruel conditions, only so that we may then slaughter them and enjoy their flesh (merely as a matter of taste, and not as survival, at least not in the so-called developed world), you may have to re-think, as I have this past year, whether you can call yourself a moral person when you contribute to what could be thought of as animal genocide, except in much greater numbers than anything Hitler himself could have ever hoped on his wildest wet dreams...
And as philosopher Peter Singer demonstrates in the following lecture, what you put in your mouth on a daily basis has ethical implications that go way beyond what you may have ever considered. Should you be a vegetarian? What kind, ovo, lacto, pescaterian? Vegan? Locavore? Conscientious omnivore? Flexitarian? Freegan? Are you contributing to the exploitation of animals? Of poor farmers in foreign countries? Are your food choices producing an environmental footprint that's unsustainable? Who's really paying the true costs of your eating habits? What about the ethics of obesity? Since most of us eat every day, these are all questions we might want to start thinking about as soon as yesterday...
Do you have any tips on how to transition to a more ethical way of eating? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
- What Is A Vegetarian?
Despite the fact that we keep a meat-free home, the shorter of the short people will occasionally say that he is the only vegetarian in the household because he has never had meat in his life. He worries that if he ever accidentally ingests something...
- The Meanings Of Food
Doing the dishes last night, it struck me how differently different people see food. To TheWife, for example, food is medicine. The purpose of eating is to change the body's chemistry and cooking is an apothecary's art, preparing something to...
- The Effects Of Professional Philosophers
Peter Singer has another op/ed in the New York Times Magazine, this one on health care. A colleague asked me a while back if there was a philosopher still living who has had any effect on contemporary popular American discourse. Peter Singer's work...
- M.b.a.'s And The Meltdown
A letter to Marketplace made an interesting point. This economic meltdown was the result of the actions of businesspeople at a time when more people have M.B.A.'s than at any time in history. The letter-writer was bemoaning the fact that the graduate...
- Ethics Of Waste
This is not a question about sustainability, those tend to be easy from the moral side of the house. Yes, we should reduce consumption, reduce toxic emissions, be more efficient, and live within our ecological means. My question is about one's ethical...
Philosophy
Peter Singer - The Ethics of What We Eat
We may feel enlightened that we're way in the process of overcoming sexism, nationalism, racism and a bunch of other unjustified separations into "us" and "them," but if you just take a minute to think about it, our treatment of non-human animals, growing them, usually in unimaginably cruel conditions, only so that we may then slaughter them and enjoy their flesh (merely as a matter of taste, and not as survival, at least not in the so-called developed world), you may have to re-think, as I have this past year, whether you can call yourself a moral person when you contribute to what could be thought of as animal genocide, except in much greater numbers than anything Hitler himself could have ever hoped on his wildest wet dreams...
And as philosopher Peter Singer demonstrates in the following lecture, what you put in your mouth on a daily basis has ethical implications that go way beyond what you may have ever considered. Should you be a vegetarian? What kind, ovo, lacto, pescaterian? Vegan? Locavore? Conscientious omnivore? Flexitarian? Freegan? Are you contributing to the exploitation of animals? Of poor farmers in foreign countries? Are your food choices producing an environmental footprint that's unsustainable? Who's really paying the true costs of your eating habits? What about the ethics of obesity? Since most of us eat every day, these are all questions we might want to start thinking about as soon as yesterday...
Do you have any tips on how to transition to a more ethical way of eating? Share your thoughts in the comments section!
- What Is A Vegetarian?
Despite the fact that we keep a meat-free home, the shorter of the short people will occasionally say that he is the only vegetarian in the household because he has never had meat in his life. He worries that if he ever accidentally ingests something...
- The Meanings Of Food
Doing the dishes last night, it struck me how differently different people see food. To TheWife, for example, food is medicine. The purpose of eating is to change the body's chemistry and cooking is an apothecary's art, preparing something to...
- The Effects Of Professional Philosophers
Peter Singer has another op/ed in the New York Times Magazine, this one on health care. A colleague asked me a while back if there was a philosopher still living who has had any effect on contemporary popular American discourse. Peter Singer's work...
- M.b.a.'s And The Meltdown
A letter to Marketplace made an interesting point. This economic meltdown was the result of the actions of businesspeople at a time when more people have M.B.A.'s than at any time in history. The letter-writer was bemoaning the fact that the graduate...
- Ethics Of Waste
This is not a question about sustainability, those tend to be easy from the moral side of the house. Yes, we should reduce consumption, reduce toxic emissions, be more efficient, and live within our ecological means. My question is about one's ethical...