Myth & the Philosopher
By Gene Sager
As a professional philosopher, I have often criticized my colleagues for overuse of technical language and the inability to communicate with the general public. At its best, a philosophical perspective can use everyday language to bring clarity and new insight. On an important topic like veganism, a philosopher can explain fallacies and myths and show how the vegan way is linked to multiple contemporary, as well as perennial, issues.
Philosophy can also cut through complexity and show how it is that veganism is a way of life based on a single, deep moral principle. That is what I propose to offer here. My own checkered dietary past will serve as an example of what makes sense and what does not.
A Thoughtless Vegan
I became a vegan for the flimsiest of reasons: veganism was the "in" thing among my
circle of friends; it was cool, different, and interesting. Today, veganism is even
more popular than when I embraced it, and I am surprised to see all-vegan
restaurants thriving, appealing especially to Millennials. Veganism is a fad for
some, and those caught up in a diet fad are not very clear about their reasons for
following the diet. When asked why I was vegan, I had only a few cliches to offer,
with no follow-up.
To relieve my embarrassment, I began to research the benefits of the vegan diet, beginning with health. I was impressed with the health benefits, but I was even more impressed with the way my research led me beyond the topic of animal products. I defined vegan as "a diet free of all animal products," and at first I felt assured that I would enjoy good health. In this belief I was accepting one of the many foody myths that abound in American culture today — the myth that a vegan diet ensures good nutrition.
A look at some of my unhealthy vegan friends dispelled this myth. One of them had a sweet tooth and was pre-diabetic at age 22. Another was unhealthy because he consumed too much saturated fat, including the faddish coconut oil.
At this stage I began to feel that my vegan diet, just like a meat diet, had to be informed in several ways to deal with related issues. I felt I needed to look into nutrition and other fields as well.
A Green Vegan
Organics is a crossover issue — critical for both health and the environment.
The more I researched these matters, the more connections I found. Starting from a
vegan base, I knew that diet and environment are closely linked because the
production of food from animal products consumes enormous amounts of natural
resources. I knew switching from animal products to a vegan diet saves more natural
resources than switching from a regular gas car to a hybrid car. What I didn?t know,
what I didn?t realize, was that the green benefits of the vegan diet turn out to be
only a fraction of what I should do to protect the planet.
Using renewable energy, minimizing plastics, and a myriad of choices are ours to make, and many of them are more a matter of being conscious than monetary expense or effort. Why would a vegan protect the planet? Because if the planet is depleted and sick, its animals and people are depleted and sick. Vegan for health reasons, if thoughtful, becomes a green vegan. My journey taught me that veganism needs to be enhanced with additional nutritional knowledge, and it needs to be enhanced with a strong commitment to the environment. I see these enhancements as extensions of the benefits that the vegan diet already produces.
Philosophy digs deep into our ways of thinking, and in this case it showed me I had been stuck in a value niche. I had found value in a dietary niche — avoiding animal products. I was unaware of how this niche was linked to other niches such as the Buy Local movement or recycling campaigns. These niches can be held apart in our minds by a myth, the fragmentation myth that dietary plans, environmental programs, and animal rights movements are separate activities. Only in the Fragmentation Myth are they seen as separate issues.
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO)
The most recent experience in my journey was a tour of my cousin?s pig confinement
facility in Iowa. Rows of barracks house thousands of animals in an artificial
environment of metal, plastic, and cement that deprives them of their natural
instincts. The frustrated pigs gnaw at the bars and bite each other. The cost of
bacon has been falsely posted at the market; the label fails to mention the extreme
suffering of animals, the detriment to our health, and the ghastly odor and
dangerous runoff from the facility?s waste pools. Such are the costs of bacon.
I was aware my vegan diet reduces the number of animals who undergo this tortuous life and slaughter. Vegans refuse to participate in this cruel process; we do not support CAFOs. But most Americans have tacitly accepted the treatment of livestock and take no action to relieve it. My observation of the treatment of animals in our culture revealed a puzzle and a shock. I feel I live in an odd schizoid cultural matrix because I see an incredible double standard: livestock receive cruel and unusual treatment and pets are given royal treatment. A massive pet store industry supports the pampering of pets, from special grooming spas to diabetes blood tests kits. Dogtopia ads tell us "every dog deserves day care." The irony is that many of the people who pamper their pets are the same people who show no compassion for livestock.
We need to take a hard look at the ways we treat animals: livestock; pets; animals poached for hide; fur, horns or tusks; and animals used for product testing. Compassion should apply to all, not just to some.
Wholistic Veganism
Clearly we need an alternative to the fragmented world view that allows us to see
these issues as separate niches. The pig confinement experience showed me that CAFOs
involve our health, environmental issues, and animal welfare. All across our
culture, the Fragmentation Myth prevents clarity of vision and ethical consistency.
Philosophers use the strange term "holism" to refer to the view that all of life is
linked together, not fragmented into disparate niches. Holism, as I interpret it, is
the view that all of reality is interrelated and interdependent. My research and
experience have taught me that this picture is correct, and the spelling "wholism"
helps remind me of the unity.
I have come a long way from a thoughtless vegan to this point where I see "veganism" as much more than just a diet. Since all of reality is linked and interdependent, my veganism should be a complete way of life based on compassion for all. As I see it, my journey began with a narrow veganism and has evolved into a comprehensive veganism. My narrow veganism was partial because it arbitrarily limited its action to diet.
Wholistic veganism extends the positive impacts that dietary veganism produces: nutritional, environmental, and ethical. It is veganism come of age.
Although wholistic veganism comprehends multiple aspects of the way we live in the world, its essence is a single, simple principle: compassion for all sentient beings. For me, it has evolved through research and experience. Donald Watson, the founder of the vegan movement, said veganism starts with vegetarianism and extends it to its logical conclusion. I say wholistic veganism starts with veganism and extends it to its logical conclusion — including nutrition, environment, and animal welfare.
I offer a challenge here, but this is definitely not evangelical veganism because I do not push or pull others to embrace wholistic veganism. I am simply urging vegans and non-vegans to be thoughtful — to look carefully at the way we live in this world.
Gene Sager is a philosophy professor at Palomar College in San Marcos, California. He has previously contributed articles to Vegetarian Journal.
