Menneskets forhold til andre dyr og kost – et ideologisk og eksistentielt perspektiv

Abstract

As vegetarian and vegan lifestyles are becoming almost inevitable to come across, it seems more relevant than ever to investigate. But veganism and vegetarianism are more than diets, they are ideologies involving ethics and morality that determine your lifestyle. The choice of lifestyle is so profound in an individual’s understanding of themselves that it has existential relevance.

Viewing them as ideologies calls for an opposing construct of an ideology that involves eating meat: carnism. The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanisms of carnism, specifically using social psychologist Melanie Joy, and to examine the belief system underneath this conceptualization of carnism as an ideology. Drawing on the work of existential psychiatrist and professor Irvin Yalom, the paper also sets out to understand how some individuals find meaning in the opposing ideologies veganism and vegetarianism.

The study finds that carnism is an ideology that draws on both individual psychological mechanisms and societal discourse in the legitimization of killing and eating other animals. It also concludes that the theory of Melanie Joy in the conceptualization of carnism argues against the human existence as something superior to and opposed to other animals, a human-animal hierarchy and binary called speciesism. The study also finds that individuals may find different kinds of meaning in the opposing ideologies involving animal ethics and the avoidance of death of other animals.

The investigated field of study leads to a discussion of the individual’s degree of free will to choose their own lifestyle. Finally, the paper calls on perspectives to a rethinking of the subject-object opposition in relation to the human scientist as superior when examining the world including actors like other animals.

Bedømmelse: 10