|
Back to Blog
A Humean Vegetarianism5/18/2021 In his philosophical work David Hume did not tackled the issue of the moral status of animals. He famously adopted a full continuist view on human and animal passions, but he also expressed skepticism on the possibility of extending the artificial virtue of justice to animals (a view that has been critically discussed and modified by Annette Baier). Nonetheless, Hume’s philosophy has much to say for the contemporary discussion on the ethics of human/animal relationships. In particular, in my paper I will try to show how a specific approach to vegetarianism (an umbrella term including many different food choices) can be drawn from humean premises. This approach mainly consists in three ideas. First, our concern for animals that can be used (or not used) for our food is grounded in a reflection on moral sentiments triggered by sympathy and imagination. Second, such a concern and the life-style choices following from it have a general consequentialist flavor but they are definitively aimed at cultivating our own character. Third, vegetarianism is a transformation of habits that - accordingly to humean ideas - must be understood as a slow process and, therefore, we should look carefully at moral arguments prescribing too radical changes on the basis of pure rational normative arguments. Simone Pollo(Sapienza Università di Roma) Comments are closed.
|