The epistemological problem of veganism

[Majed]

Most vegans are scientific materialists, and take scientific materialism for granted. So they're unable to convert people with radically different worldviews like muslims, christians, hindus, murderers... plus most vegans are idealistic and don't realize how poor, uneducated, immoral and miserable the rest of the population is.

if a vegan starts to contemplate seriously the perspective of a gang member, he'll have an existential crisis.

Edited January 12 by Majed

[DocWatts]

While there are certainly vegans who try to proselytize the lifestyle and are extremely ideological/judgemental about, in my experience most vegans I've come across treat it more like a personal set of ethics that they adhere to.

(Which is how I treat it as well, despite the fact that I'm vegetarian with a 'mostly' vegan diet.)

In practice, the minority of vegans who are heavily ideological are also the ones that by definition are the most visible.

Vegetarians/vegans who treat it as a personal set of ethics aren't  the people you see debating others on social media. Which is to say that there's a selection bias at work here.

Also that's an assumption on your part that vegans are mostly scientific materialists. In my personal experience the overlap with veganism has much more to do with SD-Green values than it does with scientific materialism, and plenty of SD-Green folks are into stuff like New Age spirituality, etc. And yeah, the developmental blindness of SD-Green (which you allude to) is a valid point.

 

Edited January 12 by DocWatts

[Scholar]

1 hour ago, Majed said:

Most vegans are scientific materialists, and take scientific materialism for granted. So they're unable to convert people with radically different worldviews like muslims, christians, hindus, murderers... plus most vegans are idealistic and don't realize how poor, uneducated, immoral and miserable the rest of the population is.

if a vegan starts to contemplate seriously the perspective of a gang member, he'll have an existential crisis.

The same applied to any ethical movement in the history of man. Whether it be women's rights or abolishing slavery.

 

If you start to contemplate seriously the perspective of an abolitionist during the time in which it was the minority opinion, you will also have an existential crisis.

 

Edited January 12 by Scholar

[zurew]

1 hour ago, Majed said:

Most vegans are scientific materialists, and take scientific materialism for granted. So they're unable to convert people with radically different worldviews like muslims, christians, hindus, murderers...

Most vegan arguments don't hinge on any materialist worldview - it can be compatible with most religions or in other words - being a vegan doesn't necessarily contradicts most religions ethics code .

[Princess Arabia]

Most people like to jump to conclusions about the world and it's people, thinking that because they've seen a thing or two on TV, on the news, on social media or even in their personal lives that that is basis to form such radica,l unproven claims about certain sectors of our society. 

Unless you have done an extensive poll or have done extensive research on the matter and have interviewed most vegans worldwide, such claims are null and void by classifying it as "most".

Saying the rest of the non-vegan population is uneducated, poor, immoral and miserable is another asinine statement.

Telling vegans they'll have an existential crises if they were to seriously contemplate the perspective of a gang member is ludicrous.