{"id":1344,"date":"2020-01-18T19:25:25","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T19:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/?p=1344"},"modified":"2020-01-18T19:25:25","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T19:25:25","slug":"conflicts-of-vital-interest-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/2020\/01\/18\/conflicts-of-vital-interest-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflicts of Vital Interest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the fight against animal suffering, if we really want to help animal beings it is essential to take into account a fundamental distinction between what is done optionally<\/em>, without vital necessity, and what is done obligatorily,<\/em> in an inescapable conflict of vital (life or death) interests like the one between an obligate carnivore and its prey.
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Tigers cannot survive if they do not capture and eat their prey. It is a biological imperative for their survival and health. Humans are not obligate carnivores. They can survive in full health today without consuming animal beings; it is not a biological imperative for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was present once at a public event for animal rights defenders. A young vegan asked a question timidly: “I am a vegan and an activist defender of animal beings. But I have a chronic condition that requires me to take a drug that contains an animal component. What should I do? “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of those present replied, almost unanimously, “Take your medicine. Animal beings as well as human defenders of animal beings need your help. You are not helping them by sacrificing your life. It is a vital necessity for you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to all\u00a0 current scientific knowledge, vaccination saves lives. It is, therefore, a vital necessity. We can hope that one day there will be vaccines that no longer require any animal component. But in the meantime what is urgent is to put an end to the gigantic majority of animal suffering which is unnecessary – hence already completely gratuitous today – before entering the complex and tragic domain of conflicts of vital necessity between sentient beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— French version —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conflits d’int\u00e9r\u00eat vital<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dans la lutte contre la souffrance animale, si on veut vraiment aider les \u00eatres animaux il est essentiel de tenir compte d\u2019une distinction primordiale entre ce qui se fait facultativement, sans n\u00e9cessite vitale, et ce qui se fait obligatoirement, dans un conflit de n\u00e9cessit\u00e9s vitales comme celui entre un carnivore obligatoire et sa proie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Un tigre ne peut pas survivre s\u2019il ne mange pas sa proie. S\u2019est un imp\u00e9ratif biologique pour sa survie et sa sant\u00e9. Les humains ne sont pas des carnivores obligatoires. Ils peuvent survivre en pleine sant\u00e9 sans consommer les \u00eatres animaux; \u00e7a ne leur est pas un imp\u00e9ratif biologique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J\u2019\u00e9tais pr\u00e9sent une fois \u00e0 un \u00e9v\u00e9nement publique de d\u00e9fenseurs des \u00eatres animaux. Une jeune v\u00e9gane a pos\u00e9 une question timidement: \u00ab Je suis v\u00e9gane et militante d\u00e9fenseure des \u00eatres animaux. Mais j\u2019ai une maladie chronique pour laquelle il faut que je prenne un m\u00e9dicament qui contient une composante d\u2019origine animale. Que dois-je faire? \u00bb <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On lui a r\u00e9pondu, presque unanimement: \u00ab Prend ton m\u00e9dicament. Les \u00eatres animaux ainsi que les d\u00e9fenseurs humains des \u00eatres animaux ont besoin de ta protection. Tu ne les aides pas en sacrifiant ta vie. C\u2019est une n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 vitale pour toi. \u00bb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u2019apr\u00e8s toutes les connaissances scientifiques actuelles, la vaccination sauve les vies. Il s\u2019agit, donc, de la n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 vitale. Il est \u00e0 esp\u00e9rer qu\u2019un jour il y aura les vaccins qui ne n\u00e9cessitent plus aucune composante d\u2019origine animale. Mais entre temps l\u2019urgence est de mettre fin \u00e0 cette gigantesque majorit\u00e9 des souffrances animales qui sont inutiles \u2014 donc  d\u00e9j\u00e0 compl\u00e8tement gratuites aujourd\u2019hui \u2014 avant de rentrer dans le domaine complexe et tragique des conflits de n\u00e9cessit\u00e9s vitales entre les \u00eatres sensibles. 
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In the fight against animal suffering, if we really want to help animal beings it is essential to take into account a fundamental distinction between what is done optionally, without vital necessity, and what is done obligatorily, in an inescapable conflict of vital (life or death) interests like the one between an obligate carnivore and … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Conflicts of Vital Interest”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1346,"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/skywritings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}