Whoever is fundamentally a teacher takes all things seriously only in relation to his students�including even himself. �Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)
It�s not a holiday in Canada this week. We have our Thanksgiving in October, but since I am from the US, most of my childhood memories of Thanksgiving are of Thursdays and Fridays around the house with family. I know that Thanksgiving is not popular because of its history and origin. But it is as good a time as any to pause and consider that for which we are most grateful, what is good for us, and, indeed, what makes our lives go well for us.
I'm not very philosophical (and certainly not a philosopher), but some colleagues and I have been discussing well-being at the AE User Forums, as a part of our abolitionist reading group. With the holiday, it has put me in a thoughtful mood to consider my well-being and the well-being of other animals. That has made me grateful for veganism, for abolition, and for those who work, often anonymously, without glory, indeed, often with little thanks in shelters everywhere who help to save the lives of nonhuman animals with proper care. I am grateful to those who help lift our brothers and sisters (human and non) up out of their slavery by insisting that all persons have a right not to be used as property and by going vegan (and more) in light of that view.
It might seem strange to read someone express gratitude for the difficulties we do sometimes face (even if only irregularly) by being vegan. But we cannot base our moral lives solely around pleasure and desires. Indeed, it is out of a concern for the well-being of others in some respects that we must also propose rights to defend them, justice to protect them and, in the case of nonhuman animals, veganism to pay what it is we owe them, and abolition to emancipate them. I believe that to consider honestly the well-being of nonhuman animals and to take it seriously proposes an immediate, unconditional and unequivocal end to their slavery as the only morally defensible position.
Moreover, to be vegan is relatively easy. The "sacrifices" are very modest and very few. A few extra seconds reading labels. Maybe developing some cooking skills (and then eating all of the wonderful food you learn how to make). A little less cake here and there at the office party maybe. Not going to the circus. A linen, cotton or polyester tie. Some new, nonleather shoes, some nonwool and nonsilk clothes, and so on. Some personal hygiene products and some household cleaners that are not overflowing with harsh chemicals. Agave nectar, rice syrup, or a dozen other sweeteners instead of honey. These are fairly small compromises when compared with the life and well-being of another, are they not?
Of course, veganism most often complicates our lives most seriously through our relationships. That has little to do with veganism or abolition themselves. Like many expressions of justice, it often sets us apart from, indeed, often at odds with others (or more commonly, sets others at odds with us). But is also affords us with an entirely different vision of ourselves in which we are moral agents summoning a social transformation unrivalled in human history toward a just and nonviolent world. An opportunity to change the world and to act well is a kind of privilege that to few value too little these days.
In fact, it would be difficult to imagine my life differently as someone who is not an abolitionist vegan. When we think of a life that goes well, can we really say that a life predicated on easy pleasures that grossly harms others without justification goes well? Friendship, a home, clothing, food, healthcare, education are all important to our lives, but so are opportunities to be virtuous, so is a nice painting, so is a good espresso made just right, and so is acting well with respect to others.
In short, although we might imagine our lives ruled by vice and pleasure, by desires well satisfied, it is not my experience at least that this is what's best for me. A life with challenges, but one that helps us to build moral character, to achieve things, one with friendships, beauty, education, one with opportunities to act well when the opportunity is in front of me seems fullest to me. I think something similar (but different) can be said of other animals. I am not an ethologist, but it seems very plausible to me that, like human animals, nonhumans are also persons with more than just vague and immediate desires to be satisfied or only an instinctive desire to avoid pain and experience pleasure.
With very simple animals, of course, it is difficult to say. A continued life would be a good that all sentient beings share in most circumstances. But a habitat free from predators, companionship, freedom of movement, offspring as well as other relationships, a broken wing fixed, a chin stroked, games as well as other forms of play, quiet, cool darkness, warm sunlight, salt water, fresh water, and a good many other things perhaps make their lives go well in ways that cannot be understood solely as the momentary experience of pleasure or desires fulfilled. In short, when I think of well-being, it seems unintuitive to think of the well-being of either human or nonhuman animals as being constituted purely by pleasure or desire satisfaction and it is not clear to me why we would think of nonhuman animal well-being as radically different from our own.
That may not be entirely true of all beings classed as zoologically as "animals", but certainly true of the vast majority who were either killed or used as slaves (and many others) so that yesterday Americans could feel normal, have a laugh with friends and family, watch the game perhaps and then fall asleep in front of their TVs. I am not saying that pleasure or the fulfillment of our desires is necessarily wrong. I am saying that my life could not go well without a broader understanding of my own well-being, and that it could not go well if I refused to consider the well-being of nonhuman animals, as well as the complicated nature of that well-being and what I owe nonhuman animals in light of their interests and rights.
Getting back to Nietzsche, although I disagree with Nietzsche on almost everything, his thought provides us with a sense of how we might think of ourselves as advocates working on behalf of other animals. I think it is best to do so seriously and with humility. I think that that is what we owe them. It is the sense of humility stemming from duty that Nietzsche proposes that drives me to consider to take other animals seriously and to understand my life (and how it goes well) in terms of differences of degrees perhaps, but not necessarily in terms of differences in kind with the lives of other animals (human and non) and to act on what that proposes.
In considering other animals as persons and what I owe them, not as my slaves, not as things with feelings toward whom I act charitably, not as moral burdens I can cast off, abolitionist veganism, and the education of others about the moral need for abolition and veganism seems now synonymous to me with a life that goes well. It fits up with all of the other things I consider to be most important to my life, my concern for equality, nonviolence, my desire to live a simple and quiet life, to eat food that looks beautiful and tastes great, and more; it renders for me a long and happy narrative of my life as one that goes well, and helps the lives of others to go well. My life will go even better when everyone is an abolitionist vegan, and so will the lives of a great many people (human and non).
I believe that most other people want their lives to go well. but they are not sure how to start. I also believe that having been told that this is a matter of pleasuring themselves for generation after generation by a consumer-driven society, they are now ready to start hearing something different. I have good news for them and the news is that an abolitionist vegan life is one that goes very well. If you are not vegan, you can start today. It does not require a donation or more than mostly simple changes to your live (many of which will probably be better for you and for others, definitely better for other animals). If you are already vegan, but not an abolitionist, have a read through my other articles or learn more about the approach at www.abolitionistapproach.com
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