I agree that vegan advocacy is often biased and insufficiently informed. That being said, I think similar points apply with comparable, if not greater, strength in the “opposite” direction, and I think we end up with an unduly incomplete perspective on the broader discussion around this issue if we only (or almost only) focus on the biases of vegan advocacy alone.
For example, in terms of identifying reasonable moral views (which, depending on one’s meta-ethical view, isn’t necessarily a matter of truth-seeking, but perhaps at least a matter of being “plausible-view-seeking”), it seems that there are strong anthropocentric and speciesistbiases that work against a fair evaluation of the argumentsagainst speciesism, and which likewise work against a fair evaluation of the moral status of veganism (e.g. from an impartial sentiocentric perspective).
Similarly, with respect to the feasibility of veganism, it seems that factors such as personal inconvenience and perceived stigma against vegans plausibly give rise to biases (in many people) toward overstating the difficulties and hazards of veganism (as also briefly acknowledged in the OP: “I’m sure many people do overestimate the difficulties of veganism”).
Relatedly, with respect to the section “What do EA vegan advocates need to do?”, I agree with the recommendation to “Take responsibility for the nutritional education of vegans you create”. But by extension, an impartial sentiocentric perspective (and even just moderately impartial ones) would also endorse an analogous recommendation like “Take responsibility for the harm that you directly cause to, or fail to prevent for, non-human animals”. It seems important not to exclude that aspect of our moral responsibility, and indeed to explicitly include it, as inconvenient as it admittedly is.
These are cached arguments that are irrelevant to this particular post and/or properly disclaimed within the post.
The asks from this post aren’t already in the water supply of this community; everyone reading EA Forum has, by contrast, already encountered the recommendation to take animal welfare more seriously.
These are cached arguments that are irrelevant to this particular post and/or properly disclaimed within the post.
I don’t agree that these points are properly disclaimed in the post. I think the post gives an imbalanced impression of the discussion and potential biases around these issues, and I think that impression is worth balancing out, even if presenting a balanced impression wasn’t the point of the post.
The asks from this post aren’t already in the water supply of this community; everyone reading EA Forum has, by contrast, already encountered the recommendation to take animal welfare more seriously.
I don’t think this remark relates so closely to my comment. My comment wasn’t about a mere “recommendation to take animal welfare more seriously”, but rather about biases that may influence us when it comes to evaluations of arguments regarding the moral status of, for example, speciesism and veganism, as well as about the practical feasibility of veganism. It’s not my impression that considerations about such potential biases, and the arguments and research that relate to them (this paper being another example of such research), are familiar to everyone reading the EA Forum.
I have the same impression with respect to philosophical arguments against speciesism (which generally have far stronger implications than just a recommendation to take animal welfare more seriously). For example, it’s not my impression that everyone reading the EA Forum is familiar with the argument from species overlap. Indeed, it seems to me that this argument and its implications are generally underappreciated even among most animal advocates.
I agree that vegan advocacy is often biased and insufficiently informed. That being said, I think similar points apply with comparable, if not greater, strength in the “opposite” direction, and I think we end up with an unduly incomplete perspective on the broader discussion around this issue if we only (or almost only) focus on the biases of vegan advocacy alone.
For example, in terms of identifying reasonable moral views (which, depending on one’s meta-ethical view, isn’t necessarily a matter of truth-seeking, but perhaps at least a matter of being “plausible-view-seeking”), it seems that there are strong anthropocentric and speciesist biases that work against a fair evaluation of the arguments against speciesism, and which likewise work against a fair evaluation of the moral status of veganism (e.g. from an impartial sentiocentric perspective).
Similarly, with respect to the feasibility of veganism, it seems that factors such as personal inconvenience and perceived stigma against vegans plausibly give rise to biases (in many people) toward overstating the difficulties and hazards of veganism (as also briefly acknowledged in the OP: “I’m sure many people do overestimate the difficulties of veganism”).
Relatedly, with respect to the section “What do EA vegan advocates need to do?”, I agree with the recommendation to “Take responsibility for the nutritional education of vegans you create”. But by extension, an impartial sentiocentric perspective (and even just moderately impartial ones) would also endorse an analogous recommendation like “Take responsibility for the harm that you directly cause to, or fail to prevent for, non-human animals”. It seems important not to exclude that aspect of our moral responsibility, and indeed to explicitly include it, as inconvenient as it admittedly is.
These are cached arguments that are irrelevant to this particular post and/or properly disclaimed within the post.
The asks from this post aren’t already in the water supply of this community; everyone reading EA Forum has, by contrast, already encountered the recommendation to take animal welfare more seriously.
I don’t agree that these points are properly disclaimed in the post. I think the post gives an imbalanced impression of the discussion and potential biases around these issues, and I think that impression is worth balancing out, even if presenting a balanced impression wasn’t the point of the post.
I don’t think this remark relates so closely to my comment. My comment wasn’t about a mere “recommendation to take animal welfare more seriously”, but rather about biases that may influence us when it comes to evaluations of arguments regarding the moral status of, for example, speciesism and veganism, as well as about the practical feasibility of veganism. It’s not my impression that considerations about such potential biases, and the arguments and research that relate to them (this paper being another example of such research), are familiar to everyone reading the EA Forum.
I have the same impression with respect to philosophical arguments against speciesism (which generally have far stronger implications than just a recommendation to take animal welfare more seriously). For example, it’s not my impression that everyone reading the EA Forum is familiar with the argument from species overlap. Indeed, it seems to me that this argument and its implications are generally underappreciated even among most animal advocates.