Category: Philosophy
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On leading a “less hypocritical or richer or better life…”
One of the great things (for me) about starting this blog is the steady stream of recommendations people (especially Shelley and Samantha) send my way. This week, it was Lorna Finlayson’s London Review piece, “Let Them Eat Oysters” (thanks, Shelley!). Ostensibly a review essay of Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation Now (Harper 2023) and Martha Nussbaum’s…
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Where to draw the line?
Last week the article, “The case against pets: Is it time to give up our cats and dogs?” came across my desk from a number of different people. They sent it to me, not because I have cats, but for a couple of other reasons. First, one of the researchers quoted, Jess Du Toit, is…
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How compelling are ethical reasons?
As a moral philosopher maybe I live in a bubble where I feel more uncomfortable than other people when my actions depart dramatically from my considered beliefs. I’m not saying moral philosophers are necessarily more ethical than the average person. And I’m not saying other people don’t have strong moral convictions. I’m suggesting that maybe…
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Not all that’s edible is food
When I was at the social ontology conference last week I went to two great papers that considered, among other questions, the broad idea of what counts as food? In his paper, “Friend (Not) Food: Livestock as a Social Kind,” Dylan Brown, PhD candidate in Philosophy at Duke, noted that not everything edible counts as…
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Conference catering: what should the defaults be?
I’m at the International Social Ontology Society Conference in Stockholm this week. The conference provides lunch and breaks. And I’m happy to say that the lunches are all vegan and vegetarian. No meat-based options on the menu. This has become a trend at some conferences I’ve either attended or heard about lately. It’s especially prevalent…
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And then there’s the roadkill objection
Is there anything wrong with eating roadkill or other “found food” that is not vegan? Food waste is another important issue, and there is a whole “freegan” movement that is based on the idea of eating food that will otherwise be thrown out or wasted. The larger issue of food waste (and freeganism as a…
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Meat and the lives of non-human animals
[Content warning: this post engages with a philosophical discussion that defends the killing and eating of non-human animals. Though I ultimately reject these arguments I present and explain them first.] As noted in my blog welcome post, this blog is part of a larger project that includes, among other things, a book-in-progress. As a philosopher,…
Vegan Practically 