Remember Socrates: Don't Eat Animals
by John C. Champagne

Why is it so hard, seemingly impossible, for our "responsible" press to convey the kinds of concerns that Socrates raised as portrayed in Plato's Republic:
Socrates: Would this habit of eating animals not require that we slaughter animals that we knew as individuals, and in whose eyes we could gaze and see ourselves reflected, only a few hours before our meal?

Glaucon: This habit would require that of us.

Socrates: Wouldn't this [knowledge of our role in turning a being into a thing] hinder us in achieving happiness?

Glaucon: It could so hinder us in our quest for happiness.

Socrates: And, if we pursue this way of living, will we not have need to visit the doctor more often?

Glaucon: We would have such need.

Socrates: If we pursue our habit of eating animals, and if our neighbor follows a similar path, will we not have need to go to war against our neighbor to secure greater pasturage, because ours will not be enough to sustain us, and our neighbor will have a similar need to wage war on us for the same reason?

Glaucon: We would be so compelled.

Socrates: Would not these facts prevent us from achieving happiness, and therefore the conditions necessary to the building of a just society, if we pursue a desire to eat animals?

Glaucon: Yes, they would so prevent us.

Today, the resources that are required to sustain this wasteful way of living ("diet" is Greek for "way of living") include large amounts of energy (read "oil") for fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, refrigeration, water pumping, etc. So today we go to war to maintain our access to oil supplies, but the point Socrates made 2500 years ago is still relevant today. We do not hear about these concerns he raised so many years ago. Why not?
Originally posted in the Usenet newsgroup rec.food.veg on Nov 18, 1994 by John Champagne.

"...when I became a vegetarian in high school, my parents were very very upset that I wouldn't eat meat...After fourteen years, they are finally accepting that it's good for me. They know it's not going to kill me." -- Sixto Linares, quoted in Diet for a New America", by John Robbins

John Champagne

© 1996 jchampag@lonestar.utsa.edu

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