How Veganism Leads to a Virtuous Life

Part 2: Temperance

In the animal rights movement, people often talk about utilitarianism and deontology, but rarely mention my preferred philosophical school of thought: virtue ethics. Over the course of the next couple months, I’m going to argue that being vegan in a nonvegan world provides a unique path toward living a virtuous life. 

Today we’re looking the least sexy of all the virtues: temperance, or the quality of self-restraint. Catherine Klein recently made an excellent video on whether or not veganism requires self-discipline, and the answer was complex. 

For some people (like myself), the vegan diet demands no self-discipline. I simply have no desire to eat animal products, so there’s no need for restraint. After seeing footage of what happens to animals in the industry, my cravings for animal products disappeared. 

Other people aren’t so lucky. One of my friends quit eating meat years ago and told me she still craves it all the time. She’s seen footage, but the desire is still there. I admire her resolve for not giving in to temptation. 

One of the biggest barriers to someone going vegan is that they think it’s going to be too hard. More often than not, they’ve never genuinely attempted going vegan, but allow limiting beliefs to stop them from trying. That was the territory in which I lived for about a year before going vegan. I knew vegans were right, but thought I wasn’t capable of making the switch. 

In reality, I’d never really tried.

I hadn’t engaged with the arguments.

I hadn’t watched the footage.

I hadn’t talked to a vegan friend about it.

Once I did, it became effortless. Once I had the discipline to sit through “Dominion,” there was no going back. 

While my diet doesn’t require discipline, being vegan HAS helped me build this virtue over the years. The biggest is in the context of activism. There are SO MANY days where the last thing I want to do is outreach/edit videos/write, but push myself to do it anyway. 

More importantly, there are the things I stopped doing because they negatively affected my activism: hanging out at bars, drinking a lot, wasting time on Reddit. I didn’t WANT to stop doing those things, but knew my time would be better spent exercising/reading about animal agriculture/improving my content. 

This is not unique to me. When I look at fellow activists, I’m encouraged by their discipline and resolve. Proud of my friends who organize protests when they don’t want to. Inspired by the boring, behind-the-scenes work it takes to run an organization. Grateful that we all care so much about animal liberation that we’re willing to put ourselves in uncomfortable (sometimes dangerous) situations for those who have no voice. 

I hope that our movement continues to build temperance because we can’t win this fight without it. 

What I’m Reading: Liberate by Peter Young

Peter’s a controversial character in the animal rights movement, but I really enjoyed this book. He tells stories of raiding fur farms, living as a fugitive, and spending two years in prison.

If you’re struggling with motivation, give this book a read.

Although I would never do the type of activism he’s advocating for, the lessons you can learn from his sense of urgency are profound. 

Main takeaway: the animal rights movement doesn’t want animal liberation badly enough.

We say we do.

We think we do.

But when we look at our day-to-day actions, for most people, they’re falling flat. 

Peter says that he met people in prison who would do insane things to steal money. They spent years learning to pick locks and evade security systems so they could break into houses to steal. Yet animal rights activists don’t do this to save animals from labs or farms.

Why are people willing to go to greater lengths for money than we are for animal liberation? There’s something a bit sad about that. 

Definitely give this one a read. No movie recommendations this time because I’m staying at a house with no TV. 

My Latest Video: Epic collab with Jamie Logan

We’ve extended our Spring Fundraiser at Pro-Animal Future, so it’s not too late to donate!

DONATE HERE!

Anyone who signs up as a monthly donor (or increases their donation) from now until July 15th will receive a set of Pro-Animal stickers in the mail.

Plus, anyone who commits to donating at least $27 per month will receive stickers and an exclusive, double-sided 25oz Pro-Animal Future travel mug (I’ve been using it to keep my water super cold)

Until next time, 

Natalie