Vegan Living - What Does It Mean to Take Animal Sentience Seriously?

The truth of the matter is that if we ascribe any value to animals at all we should not be harming them at all.  Whether or not you consider death to be a harm is not the issue here.  I deal with that elsewhere.

It is belief in the sentience of other animals, all other beings for that matter, including humans, that makes cruelty and morality (and immorality) possible in the first place.  In this sense if someone can be a decent person and smack an animal (in that action I mean), then someone else can torture it for weeks and be a decent person (in that action).  The point is not that these crimes, sins, or wrongs, or whatever we wish to call them are equal, but that if one is wrong then they both are.  Harm requires sentience to exist, as a matter of necessity.  Morally speaking, any frivilous harm is bad, given that there are agents that experience it. 

Most of us do not question human sentience, and the fact of the matter is that are brains are soft wired, if not partially hard wired, to recognize sentience in not only humans but also nonhuman animals on this planet.  I imagine we could intuitively recognize sentience in an alien species, but who knows.  Either way, separation from this intuition occurs basically as a result of inconsistent and laughable abstracted arm chair philosophy, if we can call it that (philosophy). The bottom line is that no one actually lives based on these precepts except when they are being inconsistent and/or psychopathic.  

It is a pretty simple idea, but it separates what a vegan is trying to achieve from just about everyone else.

Vegan Soap

Well I'll be damned! 

I shouldn't be surprised but it seems that most bar soaps are neither vegan, nor vegetarian, nor fucking 21st.  Bar soap contains ANIMAL FAT!  Hey, I knew that this was common in like the 18th century and shit, but SERIOUSLY!  Companies, and especially the big ones, are still putting pig and cow fat into soap.  WTF!  On top of that a lot of do not care about animal testing at all, despite the fact that for cosmetics, soap, etc. it is not in the least bit necessary.

That is disgusting and disappointing.  It seems that basically getting vegan soap means going to the health food store to buy a $2 bar.  MOTHER FUCKER!  This sucks!  Alright, you can use body wash if you are into that, but you still have to double check, and you HAVE TO BE INTO THAT.  I don't like body wash thank you very much.  Call me old fashioned about the bar of soap, but apparently some companies and people make me look like I'm what they thought the 21st century would be in 1940.

I guess it is high time for me to make some homemade vegan soap.  I should have been doing that already ... Here is some motivation to get on it.

Or hey, if you want to rub animal fat on your body that has been tested on animals, just keep buying the regular soap.  But hey, us vegans are crazy because we don't want to have any part in this.  Man, what a stupid industry.

Excuse me while I go make some of my own vegan soap.

The Relativist Fallacy

If you are interested in logic at ALL than this fallacy is likely one that frustrates you often.  For that reason it is hugely exciting.  The relativist fallacy occurs whenever someone says: "well that is true for you but not true for me" and the topic is not actually relative.  Of course that is total bullocks.  Go to the fallacy section for more info; I have included some explanation in both the Vegan and Omnivore sections, because I have seen people on both sides employ this faulty logic. Those poor souls.

The next time you hear someone say this above falsity, please give them an intellectual slap for me (not a real one of course).  This is a fallacy that pops its head up sooooo much that, one cannot help but loathe it utterly.

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'.