Thursday, May 17, 2018

Should an Epicurean be a vegan? A response to Jess Whitson

Reason for writing this

Jess Whitson recently wrote a post on the Stoic perspective of veganism and the question of should Stoics be vegans, his conclusion was it depends. What does it depend on? Well Jess says:

"So should you, a Stoic, be an ethical vegetarian/vegan these days?  I guess it depends on where you think how far out Hierocles’s Concentric Circles go.  If you think they expand out to only to humanity, then the answer is no, you don’t need to be an ethical vegetarian/vegan.  If you think they do expand out to animals and the environment, then maybe you should be looking to become a vegetarian/vegan." - Link to blog
 He then asked for an Epicurean perspective, I will humbly try to give the Epicurean perspective from my understanding.

Epicurean Perspective

The Epicurean perspective isn't particular dogmatic, there is no moral obligation to be a vegan, the only "real" obligation is to pursue pleasure. 

If I am asked should an Epicurean be X, I have to ask in response "which Epicurean? In what scenario?" I can't answer for all Epicureans, despite popular belief Epicurean philosophy is extremely individualistic, the reason being is as follows; what gives me pleasure and causes me pain is going to be different than what brings you pleasure and causes you pain.

For a particular person, the thoughts of eating meat could never outweigh the guilt they feel for eating meat - they are vegan because of the mental pain it would cause them to eat meat. Another may be vegan because of the health benefits which may come with it.

For a different Epicurean they may have no problem in eating meat at all. Of course that begs that question "can a Epicurean who is vegan be friends with one who is not" and again that is a personal thing.

Conclusion

I am sorry that I can't give Jess a concrete dichotomous answer which a Stoic may like, we don't have any abstract circle such as the Stoics do, it is really a individuals decision based on the Canon, specifically the feelings, the feelings are two things: "pleasure and pain",Coined by DeWitt as Natures "Stop and Go" system. That is how an Epicurean makes a decision, asking the question "should an Epicurean be a vegan?" is pointless, an Epicurean should refer to their own natural abilities to make this decision for themselves.

Also I think the circle mentioned in Jess's post is excellent tool in procuring pleasure, I use it all the time so that I am more friendly with people but that's all it is, a tool. I don't use it for the purpose of virtue, only pleasure, in fact I only use virtue for that end as well.

 If you are interested, here is a post on the Epicurean decision making process



(just a bit of fun, you and I both know Epicureans are host to many insults from the Stoics)

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