Originally posted by RisiR
Good post even though I was looking forward to an arguement. I'm not a nut-hugger, both Nietzsche and Schopenhauer got all kinds of things wrong. I just prefer them over other thinkers of their times.
Who are your guys, Lanny?
My introduction to academic philosophy was in an american university, so when push comes to shove I find it hard to really defend any but contemporary analytic thinkers. Of the existentialists that took direct influence from Nietzsche I think Kierkegaard and Sartre were the most interesting. I really like Camus on an aesthetic level although I hesitate to call him a philosopher.
Originally posted by reject
Perhaps but plants have feelings. They can feel pain, communicate with other plants and feed cut down tree stumps sugar solutions through their roots to keep them alive. Plants are just as sentient as animals.
That's certainly a position you can take but I think you're going to be hard pressed in establishing it as true. The burden of proof would seem to be on you to demonstrate that plants are sentient but I'll point to the lack of a nervous system as strong evidence that plants are incapable of pain/pleasure experiences which are commensurable to the human experience.
Not to mention that most fruit and vegetable production is harvested and processed by under paid, overworked immigrants but vegans and vegetarians don't give a fuck about the conditions they live in.
The conditions of workers who produce food is a real issue. If I could modify my diet to reduce the level of human suffering required for its production I'd do so, and I think most ethical vegans would say that same. It's not a matter of not caring. Also this argument seems kinda disingenuous since work conditions in the meat industry are just as bad if not considerably worse than in production of vegetables.
