When a vegan and a cattle farmer share a table I sat down at a table, my plate piled high with grape leaves, hummus, baba ganoush, pita, green salad, and quinoa salad. The person sitting next to me was complaining about plant-based options like the Beyond or Impossible Burger compared with beef. "They're processed. It's not good for you. not like beef." Putting aside questions about "healthy," I thought this remark missed the point. I pushed, trying to expand the conversation beyond … [Read more...]
Poets for the animals
I've been thinking about story-telling and relationships with particular animals. Consider the following two snippets: Peter Singer doesn’t love animals In the preface to the 1975 edition of Animal Liberation, Peter Singer shares a story about a time he was invited to tea. He'd begun working on Animal Liberation. Much to the surprise of his host, Singer admitted that he isn't an animal lover (p. 9). Singer came to his theory of animal liberation through rational argument, not a relationship … [Read more...]
Political veganism and whiteness
This week I read what is to-date the best answer I've found to feminist scientist and philosopher Donna Haraway's critique of veganism. If you are unfamiliar with Haraway, see my previous post, in which I challenge the way that Haraway describes veganism. She critiques veganism for seeking to claim innocence from systems that do violence to nonhuman animals. I offer "Veganisms" by philosopher Robert C. Jones as a response to Haraway. Jones outlines three different types of ethical veganism … [Read more...]
2017, my year of fancy rats
I was born in the year of the rat, under the Chinese zodiac. I took this to be a SIGN when I decided to adopt fancy rats in early 2017. On January 7, 2017 I brought home three fancy rats from the Humane Society: Xena, Gabrielle, and Dottie-Callisto. Gabrielle, one of my first fancy rat companions This is not a post that represents "philosophy in the world." I am using this post as an opportunity to share publicly some memories of my rat Gabrielle, who passed away on December 21. If you read … [Read more...]
Lingering indigestion from my course on animal ethics
Puppies, Pigs, and the Polis had it's final class meeting (along with a special vegan brunch) last week. This course examined how animal ethicists use feminist relational theory, which usually refers to views that are grounded in the claim that people are constituted in and through relationships. The course aimed to spark our imaginations about how to build better worlds with and for nonhuman animals. I was game to keep meeting each week, but the semester must come to an end! The … [Read more...]