The Naturalistic Fallacy

For those of you who have not heard of the naturalistic fallacy already you have likely witnessed or expressed this faulty logic yourself.  It is quite common for people to become naturalists and experts on animal behaviour when veganism comes up.  Fortunately too their expertise allows us to make important judgements about how humans ought to act (pleeeaase tell me you caught the sarcasm there). 

The simple fact of the matter is that we do not learn about how we ought to act (morally speaking) by understanding what is natural for our ancestors (most people mean our species here - and they are magically willing to ignore the changes we have made in terms of memetic and temetic evolution).  Anyway, go to the fallacies section to see the updates I have made to the naturalistic fallacy section.  It is an extremely important fallacy to be aware of.  The ignorance of this particular illogical line of reasoning actually acts as a huge roadblock to changing how humans, in general, come to treat nonhuman animals.

All the best.  Be sure to keep yourself sharp and educated.  It has very important consequences.

Animal Writes

Interesting Quotes and Today's Updates

I just found a quote in Matthew Scully's book Dominion.  This is a good book.  It is well written, compelling, and goes into some fringe areas of animal use as well as some mainstream.  I have to say that I was hugely surprised at how good it was when I first started reading it, and even as I continue reading it.  There are many quotes from non-vegan perspectives in the book, including those of 'hunters' and dolphin trappers of Japan.

Here's a quote from a hunter, James Swan, from In Defense of Hunting: "Psychologically speaking, freedom of choice to be who you are and to follow the guidance of your conscience is the most humane ethical position for conservation of the human soul."

This is the type of bull shit you get when people are trying to justify what they do to animals without being logical about it.  This book has numerous diatribes crafted by hunters and others about the place of animals and hunting in the world.  The major problem, however, with their frankly bull shit ramblings, is that they are abstracted from reality and science.  Check out the common arguments page for an explanation of how this is bull shit. 

By the way, I apologize for the swearing.  It is just infuriating that someone thinks that just because they can say something that makes it true or meaningful, and that hundreds of billions of animals pay the price for this idiocy is deeply ... gougingly saddening.

Added to the Appeal to Tradition

No one can escape the simple fact that despite what our ancestors did that does not make it right.

I was reading Matthew Scully's Dominion and was inspired to add to the "appeal to tradition" section on the Fallacies page.  Have yourself a gander.  :P

Remember that I Update the Pages

I just wanted to give a pleasant reminder that the main content of this web page is contained within the pages.  I update them almost daily, going through to edit them and add content to them.  In the future it will be one of my goals to update on the blogroll, or whatever this main page is called, what and where I have added content.  This page is meant to serve as a resource for those who have questions about the logic of veganism, whether they are vegan or not.

Today I have editted and added to the Terms section.

P.S. Does anyone know what is the ethical position of vegetarianism?  Or at least what is a coherent and consistent ethical position for a vegetarian?  Hey don't get me wrong I see where their hearts are, but I don't see consistency.  I was vegetarian for about five minutes (alright, truthfully a few weeks) before 'going vegan'.

We Need to Answer This - Get the Question out There

I want you to take a minute to think about how you are going to answer the following question, or how you do answer it if you have thought about it already.  

How are we going to address other sentient beings and their interests?  This is a question that everyone should consider, as it is a HUGELY important question to think about and answer consistently!  Think about it!  We are talking about how we are going to treat tens upon tens of billions (probably trillions; I can't really count that high anyway) of other beings and WHY.   Has it ever been good enough to say that I will not even attempt to answer that question?  Has it ever been good enough to say that I won't even attempt to be reasonable?  Let us hope not for fellow human beings.  There are some questions that we do not know the answers to, but those are often physical, metaphysical, or ontological questions.  This question is ethical, and easily comprehensible. What are we going to do now that we know that animals are sentient?  Some people in the past may have argued that animals are sentient, and hey they were right; however, some of the evidence is, relatively speaking, quite new.  The question cannot be avoided.  It is out there. 

For vegans the answer is clear and logically consistent; granted no one is perfect, but veganism shows an earnest attempt to try to improve, and provides an approach that does not simply disregard the interests of other sentient beings.

What are other possible consistent replies to this question?  I have never seen a nonvegan argument that provides a consistently logical answer to the question of how we should address other sentient life.  The question is out there.  Answer it ...

Look at the PAGES!

Hey and welcome to my blog! I just want to give you a little tip; I know ... it is so soon ;)

I just wanted to let you know that the bulk of information on this site is not contained in the blogroll, or the posts.  Whether you are a vegan looking for a solid resource or an omnivore who does not want to be illogical, or you are just plain old interested in the logic of veganism, LOOK AT THE PAGES!

GO TO THE FALLACY PAGE!

GO TO THE COMMON ARGUMENTS PAGE!

GO TO THE PAGES!   That's where the best and most updated information is!

Cool?  You got it?

Alright.

New Layout

Now, I know have many many followers at this point, so many in fact that the counter on the site can't even keep up.  Yeah, I know, I am quite modest, but despite my following I have decided to make a change in the layout of my blog.  Previously I had figured that I would put the main Vegan moral argument on the main post page, and just leave it like that. Doing so would make the argument easily accessible to anyone, at anytime;  however, that means that I can never really post, and that's no fun.  So I decided to make a separate page for arguments that help support veganism.

The pages will then, contain a great amount of the most meaningful content.  If you want to seem common missteps in logic or ways to support your position or change your position to fit logic then check out the other pages (not posts) on this site.

My hope is to provide a resource that allows people to quickly reference the logic or illogic of thoughts and positions surrounding veganism.

I'm sure this all way too exciting for you right now, but hey, life can be just that good. See ----------->