RSVP
Original Event Notes: This is the new date (rescheduled from 5/3 due to rain.)
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Bay Area Vegetarians has two book clubs; "The Vegan Book Club" reading fiction books, and this one, "Food For Thought Book Club", reading nonfiction books on the topics of vegetarianism, animal rights, and nutrition.
While our sister book club, the Vegan Book Club may be full, we welcome new members to join us. As a general guideline, everyone is welcome to join us (both veg & non-veg), and we especially encouraging aspiring and new veg*ns to join us.
This month, one of our members, Mike B, is going to lead us in an animal rights philosophy discussion.
The meeting and discussions of these types will provide a great opportunity to hone our ability to reply to those who ostensibly attack our beliefs on rational grounds, as well as acquaint or re-acquaint ourselves with the excellent work in ethics that's taken place in the last few decades regarding the moral consideration of nonhuman animals.
All are welcome: Whether you've never touched a philosophy book or are a fellow philosophy junkie:)
This meeting's topic:
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer Chapters 1 and 6
Specifically we will be discussing Singer's argument for equal consideration of interests regardless of species membership (often referred to as "The Argument from Marginal Cases"). Philosophers opposed to animal rights have been trying to overcome this argument for 33 years with no success! We will get clear about what Singer's argument is, how it can be used, and what some of the major failed objections to the argument are.
Location - San Pedro Valley Park, 600 Oddstad Boulevard, Pacifica 94044 - (650)355-8289
Pacifica is approximately south of SF, and this beautiful county park is home to many wildlife. Deer, rabbits, lizards, wild quail and more. More info - http://tinyurl.com/sanpedrovalley
Meet at the Community Center inside the park. It is $5 to park inside the park, or you can park for free outside and walk in. Photos of meeting location and free parking area - click HERE
Picnic/Food info - For anyone who wants to share food, please bring a vegan food item to share with 6 to 8 people. The theme is finger foods or desserts. With respect for all of our animal friends, all food at BAVeg events are vegan -- strictly plant-based, with no animal-based ingredients or by-products, such as honey, casein, whey.
Please also bring your own beverage, whatever you need to eat with, serving utensil, ingredient list, and (optional) picnic blanket.
Please take some time and care with your contributions - dips with bread, raw veggies or crackers are fine; bake your favorite cookies, cupcakes or muffins; make finger-sized sandwiches; use your creativity!
Also, if you're not interested in bringing food to share, it's perfectly okay to just come and contribute to the conversation (as long as you don't mind the rest of us eating).
RSVP - Please RSVP so we can save you a patch of grass. To RSVP, please click on my name above.
If there is enough interest, a new group group could develop to meet bi-monthly to discuss a topic (e.g., book chapter, paper or even online lecture) in the area of animal rights / animal liberation philosophy.
Possible Future Topics (TBD at our first meeting):
-->Animal and morals from the point of view of the major approaches to applied ethics:
o Rights perspective [Tom Regan]
o Utilitarianism [Peter Singer] and its dangers
o Ethic of Care [Josephine Donavon] / Feminist approaches\
[e.g. Carol Adams]
o Noncognitivist approaches to animal ethics
-->"Gotchas", issues and thought experiments (e.g., what might be wrong with eating road kill?)
-->Philosophy and animal minds (e.g., debunking neo-cartesianism)
