Veganisms
Articles Reflecting a Vegan Lifestyle From All-Creatures.org

Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.

FROM Robert C. Jones
October 2016

A decrease in violence, objectification, domination, exploitation, and oppression is something we should all aspire to.

Excerpt from Critical Perspectives on Veganism

Critical Perspectives

Those of us living in affluent consumer culture under late capitalism, where plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy are readily available, are morally obligated to adopt vegan practice. The source of this obligation is grounded in a widely held belief, namely, that—all else being equal—unnecessary suffering and premature death are bad things and that acting with relatively minimal cost to oneself to contribute to a decrease in violence, objectification, domination, exploitation, and oppression is something we should all aspire to.

When I say that we are obligated to adopt vegan practice, not just any type of “vegan practice” will do, so I want to argue for a specific type of veganism I call political veganism.

First I want to establish that it is morally wrong for the vast majority of us living in high-income, highly industrialized, consumer cultures— such as the majority of us living in the Global North—to consume animal products.

To clarify, the argument is not an argument for some kind of universal veganism; that is, I will not argue that every human being on the planet is morally obligated to become vegan. Not because I don’t believe it—I do—but because (a) the question of whether an indigenous Inuit sub- sistence hunter must stop consuming all animal products is complicated and not my focus in this chapter, and (b) I prefer to focus my argument on those of us living in Western societies.

Sections include:

  • An Argument for Ethical Veganism
  • A Puzzle About Ethical Veganism: The Causal Impotence Objection
  • Solutions
  • Veganisms
  • Identity Veganism
  • Boycott Veganism
  • Revolutionary Political Veganism

 

Read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE (PDF)

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