Vegetarianism as a Social Movement About Animals

A B S T R A C T The article discuses the fundamental characteristics of vegetarianism as a heterogeneous and controversial practice, and tries to asses its scope in contemporary Western world. In the central part it presents the main results of the empirical study of vegetarianism and its perceptions on a representative sample of adult residents of the two largest cities in Slovenia, Ljubljana and Maribor. On this basis, the author proposes a more comprehensive design of quantitative and qualitative research on social aspects of vegetarianism and responses to it.

As usual since the first edition VICENTE, Mário Caeiro’s text establishes the bridge between the authors’ different perspectives, exploring the implicit insight in this year’s theme: ‘On the silence of the Crows, Animal Vicente’. Among the proposed articulations one is to be highlighted: the message of (Saint) Vincent will only make sense if, today, we conscientiously integrate the animal in our lives without subordinating it to the logic of control and utilitarianism. If the animal is constantly present in our discourses and languages, in our daily life symbols, in our emotional behaviours and naturally in our meals, we need to morally ask how we can read the silence of these and other creatures of God. In the text the reader is confronted with animal manifestations in symbols and myths, traditions and fairy tales, literature and contemporary ecosophy.

In 'Vicente '17 – Do Silêncio dos Corvos, Animal Vicente / Vicente '17 – Of the Silence of the Crows, Animal Vicente /

ISBN 978-989-8277-56-5

Como habitualmente desde a primeira edição do VICENTE, o texto de Mário Caeiro estabelece pontes entre as perspectivas enunciadas pelos restantes autores, explorando o insight implícito no tema deste ano: ‘Do silêncio dos Corvos, Animal Vicente’. Entre as articulações propostas, destaque para uma essencial: a mensagem de (São) Vicente só fará sentido se, hoje, integrarmos conscientemente o animal nas nossas vidas, não o subjugando à óptica do utilitarismo e do controlo. Pois que se o animal é uma constante dos nossos discursos e da nossa linguagem, dos nossos símbolos mais quotidianos, dos nossos hábitos afectivos e naturalmente até da nossa alimentação, há que colocar-se a questão ética de como podemos ler o silêncio destas outras criaturas de deus. O texto evoca figurações animais em símbolos e mitos, tradições e contos de fadas, na literatura e na ecosofia contemporânea.

Esta obra revolucionaria explora por qué en nuestra cultura nos mostramos tan dispuestos a comer algunos animales mientras que ni se nos pasa por la cabeza comernos a otros. Melanie Joy, psicóloga social, afirma que este fenómeno se explica por un proceso de negación. Hacemos caso omiso de los hechos: de la capacidad de conciencia de los animales, de su capacidad para sentir dolor, de las crueles prácticas ganaderas, de que no necesitamos comer carne y de que, por lo general, sin ella viviríamos más y mejor.

This paper broadly traces developing attitudes towards in-vitro and other alternative meats within science fiction, from their utopian origins in the nineteenth century to their overwhelmingly dystopian and “neocarnist” depictions in post-twentieth-century literature and culture.

This review summarises and comments on a book which presents research-based and anecdotal information on the worlds of fishes. The book attempts to enhance humans' understanding of and empathy for the inhabitants of those worlds. What a Fish Knows provides a useful foundation for ecolinguists and others who wish to apply their knowledge and skills on behalf of fishes and all the other animals impacted by what happens in aquatic ecosystems of the planet.

Lucía Martínez, autora del blog dimequecomes.com, con mucha información sobre alimentación saludable y un apartado específico dedicado a la dieta vegetariana, nos presenta Vegetarianos concienciados, un manual de supervivencia imprescindible para seguir una dieta vegetariana saludable sin tener que renunciar a ningún plan y, además, para cargarse de argumentos y luchar contra la desinformación. Porque no es fácil vivir rodeado de dimes y diretes, pero no es tan difícil sobrevivir si sabes cómo.

Repleto de consejos para sobrevivir en casa y fuera de ella (sí, con los más pequeños también), este libro se convertirá en el manual de referencia para todo aquel que haya decidido seguir una dieta vegetariana y en la puerta de entrada perfecta para los que todavía dudan sobre su viabilidad.

As Rothgerber (2012) states, as arguments become more prominent that meat consumption is harmful to the ‘environment, public health, and animals’ (p.1); those who consume meat products will experience pressure to justify their meat eating. This, incorporated with the comparatively lesser male concern for the rights of animals, and the apparent animosity towards plant-based diets may be analysed as a development of masculinity (Rothgerber, 2012). In this exploratory study, men (aged between eighteen and twenty-five) gave accounts of their experiences of participating in weight work and of their diet. The data were then integrated with pre-existing theoretical research whilst at all times seeking to analyse through an ethical-vegetarian-feminist lens. The data were gathered through the use of focus groups (Morgan, 1998) before being submitted to a process of thematic analysis (Stenner, 1993). All participants presented discourses where attaining muscular physique was a goal and consumption of meat was a considered aspect of that ambition. Having a body shape that did not conform to those ideals was discriminated against and those who did adhere to the standards were elevated to the superior within a social-hierarchy. As well as the construction of social hierarchies based upon physical attributes, they were also created along the lines of diet with the opposition of men’s versus women’s food (Rogers, 2008) becoming apparent throughout. Data are discussed in relation to the construction of masculine gender identity as well as its relationship to the hierarchies of body ideals, diet and physical characteristics.

In recent years, there has been an increased mobilization around vegan and plant-based diets. The chapter will analyze this mobilization, the evolution of the images and practices of vegan eating and what kind of political consumerism they constitute. We show how vegan eating takes place as an assemblage of several actors and platforms, such as consciousness-raising campaigns, vegan bloggers, pledges and festivals and new vegan foods marketed as ‘cool’ and suitable for everyone. The concepts of boycott and buycott are too narrow to adequately describe veganism as political consumerism. Instead, discursive and lifestyle political consumerism and their interplay characterize the current building of new images and communities. The Internet and social media have a central role in shaping the cultural contents of the ‘veggie trend’. Moreover, vegan eating is not always inspired by other-oriented motives, but also by self-regarding motives, such as health, pleasure and distinction.

This paper aims to understand how the Qur’an prescribes relations between humans and animals. I discuss the Qur’anic epistemologies of morality and bring them into conversation with esoteric claims of hypernomian versus baseline morality. Various Sufi scholars consider morality to be tiered, with taqlīd serving as a baseline. This paper will argue why treatment of animals beyond what is required might be considered hypernomian and not antinomian. I seek to negate the association of hypernomian moral decisions such as vegetarianism with sacrilege by arguing why they are an extension of, and not in defiance to, shari’a morality. I reference similar delineations of that which is permitted versus that which is preferred, such as in the case of qisas and remittance. This paper will also necessarily deliberate on the meaning (or meanings) of taqwā, and how it relates to human ethical formation. 
On the level of the problematic, this paper will engage with interpretations of Genesis and the role of man as khilafa of the world, as well as the epistemological and circumstantial significances of sacrifice, personhood, dominion, property and custodianship.

Five arguments for vegetarianism are discussed: (1) the system of meat production deprives the poor of food to provide meat for the wealthy, thus violating the principle of distributive justice; (2) the world livestock industry causes great and manifold ecological destruction; (3) meat-eating cultures and societal oppression of women are intimately linked and so feminism and vegetarianism must both be embraced to transform our patriarchal culture; (4) both utilitarianism and rights-based reasoning lead to the conclusion that we ought to boycott meat; (5) meat consumption causes many serious diseases and lowers life expectancy, so it is unhealthy.  Objections to each argument are considered.  The cumulative case establishes vegetarianism as a virtuous goal.

I saggi di Donna Haraway, autrice tra gli altri di Manifesto cyborg, brulicano da sempre di folle non umane. Questo libro approfondisce i concetti chiave della filosofa americana ed elabora una teoria femminista multispecie, seguendo le tracce delle molte vite che la animano, dai primati ai cani, dagli organismi transgenici ai simbionti dello Chthulucene. Per Haraway, gli animali umani e non umani sono specie compagne, che divengono insieme in una ininterrotta storia di coevoluzione. In questo bestiario contemporaneo, gli animali-che sono stati modelli, strumenti e figure dell'umano-sono agenti sociali, si muovono, agiscono e resistono. Ogni capitolo traccia delle piccole storie naturalculturali, ibridando filosofia, mitologia, scienze e arti.

The original sacred texts of Torah promoted veganism!  Proofs for where Rome changed how one reads their Bible version and promotes a meat sacrifices and diets are in this draft.  A review of historical quotes from the past that include evidences the prophet Mohammad PBUH was preaching vegetarianism and warning about the diet of dead flesh of animals.  The Torah proofs are offered as evidence of Roman tampering. This expanded document explores the antique dictionary definition of Khanzir and also the ancient warnings about vaccinations.  This document explores some of the areas where Edom-Rome has tampered with how one understands the religious texts whether of Contemporary Quran or Bible Versions.  This document also introduces what really was meant "By Grace Saved."  This document also presents additional evidence of the Ark of the Covenant from the time of patriarch Abraham!

1. Introduction Life is full of do's and don'ts. In the area of food, everyone seems to eat what they want to eat or what pleases them. Food habits are a way of live regulated by hygiene, culture, geographical set up, and religious believes among other factors. The present contemporary issue is the question if you are or you are not a vegetarian, vegan, or non-vegetarian/both. What are the factors that make one a vegetarian and the other a non vegetarian? I see many hotels and motels in India having both the options; Veg. and Non Veg. Is this something that one has to be forced to be either of the two? There are many foods that are not edible because they are dirty and full of bacteria. Some of the foods are not edible because they are believed to be poisonous, and still others are a prohibition due to cultural differences. For example, some cultures in Kenya will not eat, crabs, snake, pigs, and dog, among many others. While as, this are edible foods in many parts of the world. May be because of the geographical set up, hence that may be the only readily available food of that area. It is also true that some people choose food because of its taste, how it looks, considering its smell, or simply guided by their senses. The youth choose meet especially because it is tastier compared to vegetarian food. For those that go for GYM or physical exercise, their argument is that meat helps their bones to be strong. Well, everybody can give reasons for what they do, but the big concern is: how many times do we ask ourselves what nutrients the particular food is going to supply our body with? This issue of what to eat or what not to eat is widely spoken of by many people and professionals including the medical doctors. However, religion is not left out on the issue of what to eat and what not to eat. Some religions have many limitations to the intakes of specific foods. This study is dedicated to looking at one particular food; meat eating. We are taking a religious perspective on meat eating among the Hindus and the Seventh-day Adventist Christians.

This paper explores the relationship between social movement protest, economic sabotage, state capitalism, the “Green Scare,” and public forms of political repression. Through a quantitative analysis of direct action activism highlighting the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, the discourse surrounding mechanisms of social change and their impact on state power and capitalist accumulation will be examined. The analyses examines the earth and animal liberation movements, utilizing a Marxist-anarchist lens to illustrate how these non-state actors provide powerful critiques of capital and the state. Specifically, the discussion examines how state-sanctioned violence against these movements represents a return to Foucauldian Monarchical power. A quantitative-qualitative history will be used to argue that the movements’ actions fail to qualify as “terrorism,” and to examine the performance of power between the radical left and the state. State repression demonstrates not only the capitalist allegiances between government and industry, but also a sense of capital’s desperation hoping to counter a movement that has produced demonstrable victories by the means of bankrupting and isolating corporations. The government is taking such unconstitutional measures as a “talk back” between the revolutionary potential of these movements’ ideology as well as the challenge they present to state capitalism.

In recent years, humanists and social scientists have shown increasing interest in human-animal relations – to the point where many now speak of an ‘animal turn’ in the humanities and social sciences. Across history, psychology, anthropology, literature, sociology, philosophy, and law, an interdisciplinary field of human-animal studies has been forming. Certain common themes run through this diverse field, not least the reproduction of human-animal difference, and the conditions and the implications thereof.

Despite the long history of language use as a marker of such difference, the academic quest to investigate the boundary between human and nonhuman has, somewhat surprisingly, not taken root within rhetorical studies – at least not until now. For this edited volume, we therefore call for chapters that investigate the place of nonhuman animals in the purview of rhetorical theory; what it would mean to communicate beyond the human community; how rhetoric reveals our ‘brute roots.’ In other words, this book invites contributions which enlighten us about likely or possible implications of the animal turn within rhetorical studies. Would such a turn imply, for instance, that rhetoric needs a nonanthropocentric reconfiguration? The question, perhaps, is this: What difference would it make to the discipline if we assumed that nonhuman forms of communication were as interesting as human ones?

Cuando Jonathan Safran Foer iba a convertirse en padre empezó a preocuparse por la forma más responsable de alimentar a su hijo. ¿Cuáles son las consecuencias de comer animales para la salud? ¿Cuáles los efectos económicos, sociales y ambientales de hacerlo? Mezclando con maestría filosofía, literatura, ciencia y la narración de sus propias aventuras detectivescas, Comer animales explora el origen de nuestros hábitos alimenticios: desde las costumbres nacionales a las tradiciones familiares, pasando por una atroz falta de información. Con una profunda perspicacia, un equilibrado sentido ético y una creatividad desbordante, Safran Foer revela la espeluznante verdad sobre el precio pagado por el medio ambiente, el Tercer Mundo y los animales para que podamos tener carne en nuestras mesas

This article explores the shifting role of slaughter and meat consumption in Bhutan as a result of the recent religionization of Bhutanese politics and as a case of religious nationalism. It argues that there is a tension between customary meat consumption and traditional blood sacrifice and the Buddhist nonviolent ritual practice of tsethar that is propagated as a central part of modern Bhutanese nationalism and good citizenship. This tension has created a situation where animal welfare and vegetarianism are dominant in the public discourse while slaughter and meat consumption still continue-but as concealed and obscure practices. The article presents data from ethnographic fieldwork and other sources to demonstrate how this process has played out in practice.

The essay that follows combines several genres along an unconventional path. It departs from the psycho-semiotic analysis of a personal turning point: the author’s ‘conversion’ to veganism. After exposing the rationale for this change in semiotic terms, however, the essay extends its theorization to the social level, inquiring about the intersection between vegan conviction and commensality. In a world where different food ideologies co-occur, converge, conflict, and sometimes clash, what is the role of the law in establishing value priorities and strike a balance among different sociocultural and political trends? The essay concludes with a synthetic definition, in semiotic terms, of the perspective on food, meaning, and law promoted by the author: a vegan liberalism that is tolerant of food pluralism but simultaneously militates for the evolution of culture and society toward the accomplishment of a utopia, that of a world immune from the exploitation of animal suffering.

A great deal of social change is occurring through the action of social movements, activists, and the organized efforts of non-governmental organizations. From the #NoDAPL protestors resisting the construction of a pipeline to #BlackLiveMatter activists responding to the patterned killing of African Americans by police, social and political activism has recently migrated from peripheral to central in the minds of many citizens. This course examines those seeking socio-political change broadly—from those who opposed the US war in Viet Nam in the 1960s, to those attempting to create an Islamist empire in the modern Middle East. While the Islamic State and 1960s-era countercultural war resisters could not be more different, they both represent a desire to create change through political action. The course aims to familiarize students with the theoretical models for understanding collective behavior and political identity (i.e. Social Movement Theory), as well as utilize a series of historical case studies to explore specific social key movements. The aim is to allow students to understand the actions, rhetoric, strategies, and tactics of a variety of non-state socio-political movements and the resulting responses from state authorities.

Rizolatti’nin beyinde ayna nöronları keşfinden bu yana, empati ya da eş duyum dediğimiz şeyin nöral temellerini biliyoruz [1-2]. O günden bugüne empatinin beyinsel temelleri ve ayna mekanizmaları konusundaki bilgimiz artıyor. Empatiyi iki boyutta düşünmek mümkün: 1. Duygusal Empati, yani “Karşısındakinin duygularını anlayabilme”, 2.  başkasının bakış açısından bakabilme, yani “Kişinin kendisini karşısındaki kişinin yerine koyarak olaylara onun bakış açısıyla bakması, o kişinin duygularını ve düşüncelerini doğru olarak anlamasıdır.  Ventromedial prefrontal kortekste konuşlanan bu üst düzey empati sistemine de “Zihin Kuramı” adı verilir [3]. Çalışmanın bakış açısı Zihin Kuramı olacaktır çünkü yapılan çalışmanın değişkenlerinden birisi olan empatiyi en bilimsel kanıtlarla işleyen kuramdır.  Beslenme insan hayatının devam ettirilmesi adına önemli bir ihtiyaçtır. Beslenmenin birçok çeşidi vardır. Vegan, pesketaryen, ketojenik, paleo, çiğ beslenme ve vejetaryenlik örnek gösterilebilir.  Bu araştırmaya konu olan beslenme çeşidi vejetaryen beslenmedir. Vejeteryan beslenme çok yaygın olmamakla birlikte günümüzde tercih edilebilmektedir. Vejetaryen beslenmenin altında yatan bağımsız sebepler tek başına veya birlikte olabilir. Genel bir bakış açısıyla vejetaryen beslenmenin temelinde sağlık ve etik motivasyonlar yatmaktadır. Vejetaryen beslenmede araştırdığımız empati bir çok psikolojik ve sosyal kavramı barındırmaktadır. Örneğin: Dini inanç, yeterli beslenmedeki eşitsizlik/açlık durumları, ete karşı tat kaçınması, evrensel ve sosyal bakış açısı vb. durumlardır. Örneğin dini inanç açısından eski Mısır’ın din adamları asla et yemezler, Hindistan’da, Buda da öğrencilerini et yememe konusunda uyarırmış. Taocu ermişler gibi, ilk Hıristiyan ve Yahudiler de vejetaryen beslenirlerdi. Bizim çalışmamızın barındırdığı amaç ise Türkiye’de vejetaryen beslenme fikrinin arkasında yatan evrensel ve sosyal normların insanda uyandırdığı duygudaşlık düşüncesi ve bu düşüncenin nüksettirdiği duygular olacaktır. Dünyada deneyimsel olarak empati düşüncesini uyandıracak bir çok olay ve olgular yaşanmıştır. Bazı insanlar hayvanlara ve çeşitli nesnelere duygu, biliş gibi insan nitelikleri atfetmektedirler. Buna antropomorfizm (insan biçimcilik) denilmektedir [4]. Bazı yazarlara göre hayvanları insansı-insana benzer olarak görmek empati ve hayvanı koruma duygusu uyandırmaktadır. Bu kişiler vejetaryen ve vegan tutumları daha çok desteklemektedirler. Vegan ve/veya vejetaryen tutumların oluşmasında bunlara benzer birçok faktör rol oynamaktadır. Bunların yanı sıra vejetaryenlik kendi içerisinde farklı alanlara ayrılmaktadır . Bunun sebebi ise yine normların farklılığından dolayı veya tat kaçınmasıdır. Lakto vejetaryen, ovo vejetaryen, lakto-ovo vejetaryen vb. gibi bir çok beslenme çeşidi söz konusudur.                            Bu çalışmada vejetaryen beslenmede empatinin payının ne derecede yüksek olduğu açıklığa kavuşturulacaktır. Günümüze kadar hızla artan endüstriyel hayvancılığın ortaya koyduğu sonuçlar, insanlığın diğer canlılarla  bulunduğu olumsuz etkileşimler veya kendi zihninde düşüncelerinin şekillendirmesi empatiye  yol açmıştır. Bu çalışmada hem empatinin rolünün ne olduğu hem de bu rolün ne derece etkili olduğunu incelenecektir.

The word 'game' can refer to a particular kind of animal (birds and mammals hunted for sport, such as ducks and deer); an activity (games people play, such as Monopoly and Pac-Man); or an attitude (when applied to those who are eager or willing, for instance to try something new). The thirteen essays which comprise this collection examine, then, how the animals encountered in videogames challenge the adventurous player to think differently about both. From Dung Beetles to Dog’s Life by way of Ridiculous Fishing, Super Meat Boy, Trojan Horse and a miscellany of other games, essays interrogate conventional thinking about winning and losing, vitality and vulnerability, virtuality, rumination, difficulty settings and more, and, as a result, reconsider the ways in which we can or should understand humanity.

Trophées, nourriture, sujets d’expérimentation, ressources, souffre-douleurs, jouets, vêtements… Depuis le Néolithique au moins, les êtres humains considèrent les animaux comme des moyens. Pourtant, les critères sur lesquels repose cette hégémonie de notre espèce n’ont pas la pertinence qui leur permettrait de justifier de tels traitements. C’est ce suprémacisme humain que l’antispécisme entend dénoncer.

Dans ce court essai, Valéry Giroux bat en brèche les caricatures, et montre que l’antispécisme, par analogie avec l’antiracisme, est avant tout une base de réflexion éthique et politique. En affirmant que l’humanité doit renoncer à certains des privilèges qu’elle s’est injustement octroyés aux dépens des animaux, elle défend l’idée qu’un monde délivré du spécisme serait non pas encore parfait, mais incontestablement plus juste.

Abstract: Literature is silent about the stability of change occurring through spiritual conversions. The researcher
proposes that the dietary change in eco-spiritual communities is more long-lasting than where spirituality is absent.
Conversion research has long established that spiritual conversions result in a radical change of conduct. However, little
if anything is said about the durability of change thus taking place. Through decades of participation in meat-free
communities, the researcher observed that maintaining a sustainable diet is a steadier project for spiritual converts than
for nonspiritual consumers. Not to immediately test this supposition quantitatively, but first to gain qualitative insights
and construct meaning together with adherents, the researcher visited three spiritual eco-farms in the Hare Krishna (UK
and Eastern Europe) and the Seventh-day Adventist (East Africa) movements. The samples were chosen because of their
embraced vegetarianism and its widespread practice and promotion within and outside their ranks. The researcher spent
several months on these farms, volunteered in their daily projects, made observations, and conducted twenty-nine
interviews. The researcher found that the rich conversion narratives gained in both communities serve as additional
triggers for sustainability, an option not available for nonspiritual dieters. The researcher proposes that the
serendipitous, spontaneous, and miraculous elements of these conversion accounts, and their regular repetition, in
particular, bolster the dietary practices of members and their respective communities. Further research is needed to test
this hypothesis quantitatively.

Keywords: Dietary Change, Vegetarian, Spirituality, Spiritual Communities, Krishna, Adventist

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore attitudes among India’s young urban middle-class consumers towards ethical foods, and understand what might influence these attitudes. As the levels of education and disposable incomes rise, and the urban Indian consumer encounters a greater array of product choices in the marketplace, this
study aims to understand the perceived significance of ethical foods in India. The results from this study revealed a range of spontaneous perceptions and associations relating to the term ethical foods. These included mainly religious, cultural and health-related associations. Furthermore, these definitions appeared to be shaped by India’s unique sociocultural traditions, norms and contexts. These findings will be subsequently discussed in detail in this paper.

Plus qu’un régime ou un mode de vie, le véganisme est un mouvement social et politique visant à libérer les animaux du joug humain. S’opposant au carnisme, les véganes renoncent autant que possible à utiliser des produits ou des services issus de leur exploitation.

Leurs arguments rencontrent aujourd’hui un écho de plus en plus favorable parmi les consommateurs, alors même que les animaux, sur terre et dans la mer, n’ont jamais été tués dans de si grandes proportions.

Cet essai est l’occasion pour ses auteurs de montrer que la société que les véganes appellent de leurs vœux (et préfigurent par leurs pratiques quotidiennes) repose sur une conception élargie de la justice. Une justice qui devrait embrasser l’ensemble des êtres doués de sensibilité.

Vegetarianism as a dietary practice has emerged as a site of contestation in the South Asian traditions. While vegetarianism remains a politically significant topic today with the rise of Hindutva right-wing politics, in the early period, vegetarianism and dietary practices and ethics around it played a role in boundary-making between Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism. In this paper, the aim is to look how major texts in these three traditions i.e., Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism conceptualize vegetarianism based on the concept of ahiṃsā (non-violence/non-injury) and employ their dietary practices and ethics as a tool of boundary-making.

Vegetarianism and Science Fiction: A History of Utopian Animal Ethics examines how vegetarian ideals promoted within science fiction and utopian literature have had a real-world impact on the awareness and spread of vegetarianism and animal advocacy, as well as how the genres' engagements have been altered to reflect changes in ethical and environmental philosophy. Author Joshua Bulleid examines the representation of vegetarianism in the works of major science fiction authors, including Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ernest Callenbach, Marge Piercy, Octavia E. Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson and Margaret Atwood within their evolving social contexts, tracing the development of vegetarian trends and their science fictional representations from the early-nineteenth century to the present day.

Review copies can be obtained by contacting: BookReview@springer.com.

There were only three tiny vegetarian restaurants (com chay) in the small town of Hoi An in Central Vietnam in year 2000. Ten years later, the town boasted more than twelve vegetarian restaurants, most of which had opened since 2007. In this chapter, I explore the various meanings attributed by the Hoianese to the recent popularity of vegetarian food in town. My Hoianese interviewees gave a range of reflections on the consumption of vegetarian food. Some argued that the ease of control over religious activities in Vietnam had resulted in a big comeback for Buddhism in Hoi An and for an increased demand for vegetarian food. Others suggested that the recent economic prosperity was accompanied by a sharp rise in nutritionally related diseases, which a vegetarian diet was believed to counteract. Younger interviewees commented on the complex and stressful nature of modern life and suggested that Buddhism and vegetarianism were potential solutions. Yet another claim was that prosperity and overindulgence had led many people to vegetarianism, for some as a moral remedy and for others as just another mode of conspicuous consumption. Altogether, vegetarianism was depicted by my Hoianese interviewees as both an outcome of and a reaction to modernity.

Animal liberation contends that humans and animals are of equal value and that standard views of human uniqueness are an anthropocentric prejudice called "speciesism." It advocates ending human use of animals in recognition of animal rights. Animal liberation theology attempts to ground similar views in the Bible. It typically envisions an original creation free of predation to be restored free of meat-eating and animal use. It views animal sacrifice as murder and speaks of a "deep incarnation" by which God in Christ takes on "all flesh" for the salvation of all creatures in a "cosmic redemption." This is the first full-fledged critique of animal liberation in general and so-called speciesism in particular from a biblical and theological standpoint, with accompanying scientific and philosophical analysis. After it introduces the major thinkers, the book demonstrates the incoherence of animal liberation with human evolution, the use of animals in the domestic and religious life of Israel, and the New Testament assertion that God the Son was uniquely incarnated in the human Jesus for human salvation. This book reasserts historic Christian faith as sufficient to the scientific, philosophical and ethical challenges posed by animal studies, and concludes with an appraisal of key ethical concerns regarding animal use and foundational issues within the animal liberation movement.

Nutritional choices are affected by culture, tradition and above all by the narrative we adopt for human history. The article gives an overview of the (pseudo)scientific beliefs, psychological factors and ethical orientations that affect nutritional choices. Among the various food theories today, great importance is given, for example, to the so-called Paleolithic diet, which consists of proposing a dietary model based on blood groups, which are assumed to have developed throughout different periods of the natural evolution of Homo sapiens, which were characterized by peculiar alimentary regimes. Moreover, psychological determinant drivers affect food choices and could lead to pathological eating behaviors (e.g., anorexia, overeating, binge eating). Finally, the ethical aspects of nutrition are closely correlated to vegetarianism, which in turn embraces an anti-speciesist thinking and recognizes the need for humans not to inflict unnecessary suffering on animals. Vegetarianism, anti-speciesism and ecologism often represent different aspects of the same issue: a lifestyle that testifies the need for a change in traditional paradigms, in the interest of humankind and the future of life on our planet.

Monika Rzeczycka, Karolina M. Hess, Slavic Hyperboreans, Vegetarianism, and Occultism: Konstanty Moes-Oskragiełło’s Theories on the Sound State of a Man, w: Vol. (5) Polish Esoteric Traditions 1890-1939, ed. Agata Świerzowska, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego, Gdańsk 2019, p. 159–175. ISBN 978-83-7865-894-8.

Als Pythagoras die Misshandlung eines kleinen Hundes beobachtete, schritt er ein und sagte: „Hör auf mit dem Schlagen. Denn es ist ja die Seele eines Freundes – ich erkannte sie, als ich die Stimme hörte.“ (Xenophanes, DK 21 B 7)
Das Fragment von Xenophanes (um 580 v. Chr. – um 500 v. Chr.), einem Zeitgenossen des Pythagoras, erhellt schlaglichtartig einen Aspekt der antiken Tier-Mensch-Beziehung, der nicht so recht in das klassische Bild von blutigen Altären und fetttriefenden Herden passen will, wie es u. a. in den Epen Homers gezeichnet wird. Denn bereits aus der kurzen Textstelle geht hervor, dass Pythagoras dem kleinen Hund eine dem Menschen vergleichbare unsterbliche Seele (griech. ψύχη/psýchē, lat. anima) zugestand. Er fühlte mit dem gepeinigten Tier, verstand es als Seelenverwandten und Freund. Die pythagoreische Empathie beschränkte sich dabei nicht allein auf den Hund, der heute noch als Gefährte und Freund des Menschen gilt, sondern schloss alle Mitkreaturen, darunter auch Fische und Pflanzen, ein. Vor diesem Hintergrund war der strenge Vegetarismus, dessen oberstes Primat die Enthaltung von allem Beseelten (griech. ἀποχὴ ἐμψύχων/apochē empsychōn) darstellte, ein folgerichtiger Schritt. Die Seele, nach antiker Vorstellung gleichbedeutend mit Lebenskraft, stand ins Lateinische übertragen als anima sogar Patin für den Begriff animal, also für das beseelte Tier. Empathie und Respekt für die Mitkreatur bildeten so den emotionalen Nährboden, aus dem die pythagoreische Vorstellung von der beseelten Welt im Allgemeinen und der Tierseele im Besonderen erwachsen konnte – eine Denkfigur, die später jedoch im strikten Widerspruch zum paulinischen Weltbild stand, das schließlich grundlegend für das gesamte Christentum und damit auch für das heutige Mensch-Tier-Verhältnis wurde.

World Vegetarian Day is observed annually around the planet on October 1.

It is a day of celebration established in 1977 by the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) and endorsed in 1978 by the International Vegetarian Union (IVU), headquartered in London, UK:
“To promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities
of vegetarianism.”

It brings awareness to the ethical, environmental, health, and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle.

World Vegetarian Day initiates the month of October as Vegetarian Awareness Month, which ends with November 1, World Vegan Day, as the end of that month of celebration. Vegetarian Awareness Month has been known variously as Reverence for Life month, Month of Vegetarian Food, and more.

This article is concerned with choices that parents or guardians make about the food they give to their children. Those with primary responsibility for the care of young children determine the set of foods that their children eat and have a significant impact on children's subsequent dietary choices, both in later childhood and in adulthood. I argue that parents have a morally significant reason not to feed meat to their children, which stems from their fiduciary responsibility for the child's moral development. This should, at a minimum, be factored into parental decisions about their children's diet. In the absence of compelling countervailing reasons, it will mean that parents should not, in an all-things-considered sense, feed meat to their children. This claim does not rely upon the obviously contentious claim that it is morally wrong to eat meat. Instead, the fact that children, when adults, may reasonably themselves come to believe that consuming meat is wrong gives parents morally compelling reasons to avoid acting in ways which may have the predictable consequence of corrupting the moral character of those for whom they are responsible.

Tous les êtres humains sont égaux devant la loi. Tous ont des droits fondamentaux qui les protègent contre la torture, la mise à mort et l'asservissement. Tous jouissent du statut juridique de personne, par opposition à celui de simple chose susceptible d'être appropriée. Cela vaut pour les membres de l'espèce Homo sapiens sans exception, mais pour aucun autre animal. Une telle discrimination est-elle juste ?

Afin de répondre à cette question difficile et profonde, Valéry Giroux entreprend d'explorer la possibilité que des animaux autres qu'humains possèdent, comme les membres de l'humanité, les intérêts que les droits les plus fondamentaux de la personne ont pour fonction de protéger. Avec une implacable rigueur, elle montre que tous les êtres sensibles, en réalité, peuvent avoir intérêt à ne pas souffrir, intérêt à rester en vie et intérêt à vivre librement. À partir du principe selon lequel les cas semblables doivent être traités de manière identique, elle conclut que tous ces animaux devraient jouir des droits individuels les plus fondamentaux et se voir reconnaître la personnalité morale et juridique.

Cette enquête philosophique sur les droits des animaux est décisive dans ses conclusions : l'exploitation animale doit être abolie.