My First Lesson: Animal Ethics and More

I have loosely read articles about animal ethics, animal rights, and even environmental ethics in general, but I did not have a structured understanding of the basics of the related theories and practices, which began gaining popularity in the late 20th century.

Incidentally, a seminar on animal ethics had been scheduled to be held at a venue I frequently visit, so I went to attend my first lesson on animal ethics—a desirable learning opportunity, partly due to the prevailing pet phenomenon, even though I don't keep any pets myself. On the other hand, as people are becoming more aware of and reflecting on our relationships with animals and the environment in general, I was interested in what the seminar had to offer.

The seminar took place last Saturday morning, with a keynote speech titled Watch Animals, Love Animals, Eat Animals—How Distant Animal Ethics Are from Us.  The speaker was Dr. Huang, an animal lover, and more interestingly, a professor of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Taiwan University.

Through Dr. Huang's speech, I learned some basics of animal ethics. Among other things, I was most impressed by the term "meat paradox," which highlights humans' contradictory behaviors of loving animals on the one hand and eating them on the other.

The second thing I learned was equally impressive: humans tend to feel less guilty if the animals they eat do not have a face. For example, eating oysters is less likely to trigger guilt compared to eating beef (since an ox has a face).

The third interesting thing I learned was biophobia, which describes the irrational, abnormal, and persistent fear humans have of nature, particularly animals. Conversely, there’s the biophilia hypothesis, which suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature, including animals.  It’s further evidence of the complex and paradoxical sentiments of humans.

Finally, I learned the concept of quantitative vegetarians: since humans are omnivores, it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to practice a vegan diet in light of animal ethics. However, it’s possible for everyone to eat less meat by following a vegan diet once a week, once a month, or even once a year. As long as we make some quantitative effort, it will contribute to closing the gap between us and animal ethics. Additionally, finding new ways to minimize the suffering of animals during slaughter is essential for progress.

After the seminar, I did some quick research online and learned, surprisingly, that although the animal rights movement had not been widely acknowledged until the 1970s, its concept originates from the idea of "no killing," which was derived from ahiṃsā (non-violence), the first of the five vows of Jainism, dating back to the 9th century BCE.

Fast forward to the 17th century, the first law related to animal rights was enacted in Ireland: An Act against Plowing by the Tayle, and pulling the Wooll off living Sheep. Having scanned through the content of the law, I came to the opinion that cruelty is a matter of debate in context: as the name of the law suggests, until then, plowing by the tails of oxen and horses (without using a harness) and pulling the wool off sheep (instead of shearing it) were considered the norm.

The contemporary animal rights movement was founded in the UK in the early 1970s by the "Oxford Group," consisting of Oxford University post-graduate philosophy students and led by Rosalind and Stanley Godlovitch, who had recently become vegetarians. From there, the movement would gain momentum and spread over the world to what it is today.

It was a very interesting first lesson, and it's highly relevant to the society I'm in now.  For one thing, we may have a pet population larger than our citizen population someday because newly registered pets already outnumbered newborns in my country in 2023 by a whopping 70% margin. This may be the "demographics of the future," and, like it or not, we'll need to learn to cohabitate with pets in our community.