You gotta love 'em. They're loyal, generally happy go-lucky, fun loving adventurers.
Not everyone loves their uncanny ability to chase a ball endlessly. But, despite the existence of dog haters (who often also happen to be cat lovers) dogs have hit the big time ... the jackpot.
They are one of the select species that humans (in many societies) are willing to stand up for. But why? Why do they deserve special treatment? The simple answer is that they don't. They're not more deserving of simple respect than any other sentient species.
Many humans and societies have extended our moral communities to include dogs, cats, horses, and a few other species.
At the core of this quandary lies fertile philosophical ground, which I am ashamed to say most philosophers or philosophically minded individuals leave untouched. This blog is for investigating our the logic around animal ethics, veganism, and their supporters and detractors.
The Foundational Vegan Argument
The basic argument that potentially leads to a vegan lifestyle can be stated syllogistically, as follows:
Causing unnecessary suffering to other sentient animals (human and nonhuman) is morally wrong.
Many of the ways that humans use animals on a day to day basis causes unnecessary suffering (e.g. for food, sport, clothing).
Therefore, the ways that most humans use other animals on a day to day basis are morally wrong.
As you may have gathered this doesn't lead inextricably to a vegan lifestyle. It doesn't even lead to any animal rights; however, if you accept the argument, it reminds us that there is a lot of unnecessary suffering in this world and we ought to do something about it.
