Why Veganism Is Not Natural, but Excellent
by Titus Rivas
Introduction
Sometimes vegans claim that the original human diet was purely
vegetable, and therefore eating meat and animal products in general
could be seen as a perversion. The carnivore or more correctly omnivore
menu would be perverted not only in the physiological sense of being
detrimental to human health, but also morally, because people would
kill and use animals without any innate biological urge to do so.
What are the reasons for this unusual claim? Two sources for the belief
that veganism is natural exist.
First, there are several religious texts (e. g. Genesis) that hold that
the only original food God intended for human consumption consisted of
fruit and vegetables.
Secondly, people point to the food habits of the great apes, i.e. those
primates closest to man from a biological, evolutionary viewpoint
In this short essay I will scrutinize the background for the naturalistic case for veganism.
1. Religious texts
The problem with religious sources is that even if some of them are
trustworthy and truly the product of divine inspiration, not all
of them can equally be so. There are many holy books that contradict
each other on an infinity of specific issues. This means that only a
believer can take seriously the information about our original state
that a religious text is supposed to provide. I am not saying that no
religious text whatsoever would ever contain any truth, and even less
do I wish to offend anyone's religious feelings. What I do contend is
that only fellow believers might be convinced of religious claims that
human's original eating was meant to be confined to plants.
If we want to convince others that veganism is in itself good
and worthwhile, we don't want to have to convince them first of any
particular religious system. Especially since we do not as vegans all
belong to the same creed. and since many of us are not even followers
of any religion whatsoever.
2. Biology
The biological case for the supposed unnaturalness
of eating meat and dairy products rests entirely on the eating habits
of the great apes. Let us only take a look at chimpanzees.
Jane Goodall in her book "In the Shadow of Man" states that chimps are
omnivorous, just like humans. They eat plants, insects and meat, as
well as eggs and young birds. She also describes the hunting habits of
chimpanzees, which can catch some twenty different types of prey during
one year. Mostly they hunt the young of antelopes, pigs and baboons,
and also young and adult guereza monkeys.
Chimps are especially famous for their intelligent manipulation of
sticks as tools during termite fishing. This means that the case of
chimpanzees, who are extremely close to humans, disproves the idea that
our ancestors simply must have been herbivorous. Not all of the great apes have a vegetarian life style like the gorillas.
Also our teeth and digestive system show that we are not confined to
vegetables. Some modem-day eating habits may be in a sense unnatural
and detrimental to our health, but this is not the same as claiming
that eating meat and dairy products would be unnatural for us humans.
It is not at all unnatural, but completely natural, and part of the
human biological characteristic of being very universal in our
possibilities to adapt to different circumstances. Just like our
intelligence and hands, like our standing upright, and our speech, our
omnivorous diet greatly benefited our biological success as a species.
We can be both vegans and complete meat-eaters, as Eskimos are,
unfortunately.
3. Biology and Veganism
As we have seen, the religious ground for believing that veganism is
the natural kind of human nutrition cannot be generalised beyond
believers of particular denominations.
Moreover, biologically the claim is ludicrous, as we can conclude from
the chimpanzee menu and from our own physiology. Instead, we should
realise that from a strictly biological viewpoint, veganism is an
unadaptive, unnecessary limitation within thee biological possibilities
of humankind. Biologically speaking, veganism is a bit like anorexia:
it is an unnatural abstinence from natural resources.
There can be no case for veganism based on claims about our natural,
unspoiled nutrition. I am not saying by the way that veganism is an
unhealthy diet or that it would be ecologically wrong to be a vegan. I
am just saying that there is nothing original or biologically innate
about veganism.
4. The Moral Case for Veganism
There is no valid naturalistic case to be made for veganism.
Instead, we should stick to the only type of argument that is
unshakeable by any biological findings. This is the moral argument. We do not need to be vegans because it is natural, we should be vegans because it is morally right.
Anyway, even if veganism were natural, that would not force us to be
vegans. It most certainly was natural for humans to walk naked at the
very beginning, but I doubt whether everyone who claims veganism is
natural, would declare him- or herself to be a naturist (nudist) too.
The point is however that veganism is not natural in the biological
sense. It is a highly advanced moral choice that should be promoted
primarily on ethical grounds.
Thus, we can even extend our veganism to other beings that are under
our care, like dogs. For dogs it is even less natural never to eat meat
than it is for us people. Nonetheless, with the right balance in their
diet, it is possible for dogs to thrive on vegan food. If we apply the
(false) naturalistic argument for veganism to dogs, dogs should never
be deprived of eating meat. If we apply the moral argument to them
however, we should feed dogs in as vegan a way as biologically possible.
Titus Rivas, The Netherlands
titusrivas@hotmail.com
Vegans International 4th quarter 1994, page 7