For any philosopher without knowledge on the right it is complicated to decide on the judgment of the judge of Norwich who yesterday considered that veganism is “a philosophical belief”, and ruled that you deserve to enjoy the protection of the Equality Act, passed in 2010 in the Uk to avoid that religions and beliefs are the subject of any form of discrimination. “We get the absurdity of any life form is claimed as a right; but it is dangerous ground. The offense to veganism is not as serious as race, sexuality, or religion”, said Germán Cano, professor of Contemporary Philosophy at the University of Alcalá de Henares.
In his opinion, the problem is that in the advanced societies of the “first world” you make the mistake that the followers of different life styles tend to arrogate to itself a privilege. Cano puts the root of that distortion in the secularization of society and the progressive loss of weight of religion. “Given the fact that you think that your style of life, no matter what that is, it must equate to weight that have had religions, and that is why they seek the lace of his ideology in the field of law”. In the absence of that the court to rule on whether the dismissal of Jordi Casamitjana, a british citizen of Catalan origin who sued his company for firing you as a result of their “declared convictions vegan”, was or was not appropriate, Cano believes that its argumentario that you were discriminated against for being vegan is a “justification for untimely” that makes no sense.
Jorge Rlechman, professor of Philosophy of the Autonomous University of Madrid, reminds us that legal systems incorporate philosophical beliefs, a fact that may lead some citizens to mistake as to its moral requirements. “The declaration of human rights of 1948, for example, has many philosophical principles behind it, but it is complicated to adapt the different beliefs within a legal framework”.
For Javier Morales, author of the book The day I stopped eating animals, rather than a philosophical belief, veganism is a political movement. “If we talk about the regulatory framework, which would make sense is that the rulers worry about offer options to vegans in public services such as the canteens of hospitals or centres for education”. In his opinion, this current cannot be considered a religion, but a revolution with a force similar to that of feminism. “We strive to make visible to the animals and to eradicate practices deplorable to which we submit; humans are not the center of the universe”.
