{"id":772208,"date":"2023-04-17T08:18:19","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T12:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=772208"},"modified":"2023-04-17T09:01:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T13:01:24","slug":"the-power-of-words-the-conceptual-lens-of-anthropocentrism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=772208","title":{"rendered":"IN OTHER WORDS: The conceptual lens of anthropocentrism"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Language contains ideology. The labeling of the butchered flesh of a pig as 'pork' or that of a cow as 'beef' reduces pigs and cows to 'meat' \u2013 a consumable product \u2013 and in turn conditions us to overlook their moral worth. Resultantly, our language promotes the unthinking objectification of nonhuman bodies.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

LOUIS GOUGH:<\/strong> Language is the primary tool through which we express ourselves \u2013 our emotions, our thoughts, our interpretations of reality. Yet the language available to us influences what we can express and, more fundamentally, what we can think.<\/em><\/p>\n

For example, the level of moral consideration granted to nonhuman animals is typically determined by the assumed strength of their subjective experience \u2013 that is, their assumed degree of sentience. However, those labelled \u201cfood animals\u201d are impulsively deemed less subjectively aware, less able to experience pain, and less morally significant. Researchers conclude that this labeling influences what we think, with the finding holding true regardless of whether the research participants consumer the species in question or not.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this way, language contains ideology. The labeling of the butchered flesh of a pig as \u201cpork\u201d or that of a cow as \u201cbeef\u201d reduces pigs and cows to \u201cmeat\u201d \u2013 a consumable product \u2013 and in turn conditions us to overlook their moral worth… Resultantly, our language<\/a> promotes the unthinking objectification of nonhuman bodies…<\/em><\/p>\n

By doing so, we are overlooking the individuality of cows \u2013 their personalities, preferences, relationships, their sentience \u2013 and as a result we contribute to the acceptance of their objectification as commercial products in the first place.<\/em><\/p>\n

The conventional terms available in a particular society both reflect and perpetuate the conventional views of said society. And the conventional view in Western society is that of \u201canthropocentrism\u201d \u2013 or, \u201cspeciesism\u201d \u2013 which perceives humanity to be separate and superior to other animals. Why else would being called an \u201canimal\u201d be offensive?…<\/em><\/p>\n

To view reality through the conceptual lens of anthropocentrism is to be blind to the immeasurable complexity of the world, the unfathomable individuality of other-than-human subjective experiences, and ultimately to be deluded by our own arrogance and ignorance…<\/em><\/p>\n

Existing vegans will know through experience that rejecting nonhuman animal exploitation has a significant impact on the way we understand and speak about other animals and the \u201cproducts\u201d made from them. \u201cMeat,\u201d \u201cleather,\u201d and \u201cfur\u201d become the severed flesh and skins of abused captives; \u201cdairy\u201d becomes stolen nourishment denied to a baby; \u201ceggs\u201d the result of unrelenting exploitation of female anatomy… Instead of \u201clivestock,\u201d \u201cwildlife,\u201d \u201cpests,\u201d or \u201crodents,\u201d nonhuman animals become fellow earthlings, kin, companions, and awe-inspiring co-inhabitants with an equal right to the land, life, and autonomy…<\/em><\/p>\n

Becoming aware of the ideology contained within our language can only expand our awareness, it can only remove blinkers and thus broaden our perspectives beyond the conventional perspective pushed upon us. By refusing to overlook the individuality of other animals, we can appreciate more fully the wondrous complexity of all life on this planet and our humble position within it. <\/em>SOURCE…<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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