It is likely that we evolved a moral sense to keep our communities functioning, to allow us to bond and share and coordinate. But the factors driving morality’s evolution don’t determine how we can and should think about it as modern individuals and societies, if no other reason than our still-limited understanding of psychological evolution. [...]
I just finished Eating Animals, which is not only an excellent introduction to the issues surrounding meat-eating, from factory farms to family dinners, but also thought-provoking for an already-educated eater like myself. I think it will definitely accomplish the author’s goal of starting conversations — conversations already in progress, I’m sure, since the ethics and [...]
I spent the Gordanier Christmas sitting cross-legged on a footstool, which had Jackie and a few other of Thomas’s relatives gaping and wondering “How can you do that?” My response was to mumble something about it being more comfortable. No, really! I’ve always loved my grandmother’s extra-firm cushions, and I’ve never slept so well as [...]
I recently heard about a book, a memoir of a successful career woman turned homesteader. This is a popular story nowadays, people going back to the land — raising chickens in their backyards, cooking tomato sauce from scratch, sewing their own clothing. Its vaunted as a way to be self-sufficient and save the planet, and [...]
Finally, some sensible science on raw and cooked foods! Rachael sent me an excellent review of the various toxins, mutagens, carcinogens, and antinutrients found naturally in foods and created by cooking processes, as well the effects of heat and storage on vitamin, mineral, and nutrient content. The authors of the website are aggressively non-dogmatic — [...]
This summer, as many people do, I turned to fresh, raw foods as the cornerstone of my diet. I also looked into the Raw Food Movement, composed of people who are trying to subsist on entirely raw diets. The principle that this is much healthier, certainly than the standard American diet, but also more than [...]
I have a theory: I think sentience might be a necessary outcome of animacy, and sapience a result of sociality. An animal who ventures out into the world must be able to make sense of a complex environment, which a sessile being can safely ignore until something bumps into it. The mobile creature must be [...]
Veganism as a moral undertaking responds readily to Confucian advice. The idea that simply by setting a good example you can impact others*, is good advice for the vegan who does not wish to be judgmental. People do not respond well to chastisement or punishment, and if they are forced to change, they will resent [...]
The human body, among other bodies, is made up of many colonies of cells working together in a super-colony. It is astounding that all these cells bother to work together at all, and it takes a lot of effort for them to do so. Our bodies are not particularly elegant devices, and are stocked with [...]
If you care about something, you obviously have an interest in its well-being. If something else harms it, you experience displeasure. Therefore you should avoid harming things you care about, and if they care for things in turn, you should avoid harming them, too. Or put another way, if someone cares about you, they will [...]
