The Selfish Argument – A New Perspective Toward Veganism

“I have a new argument against veganism. One that you cannot debunk…” said Nathen. Did the author successfully debunk Nathen’s argument against veganism? Find out…

One day, I was walking around the aisles of the store with my friend, Nathen. I held a list of items that I had to pick up. Nathen helped me out by finding some of the items before placing them in the cart.

“No… no… no” I said shaking my head. “You have to check the labels for a “v” sign to make sure it is vegan. You know, these days they add milk solids in literally everything.”

Nathen chuckled “I never get this concept of veganism. It is just too crazy and out of this world.”

I sighed. Nathen was always sort of against veganism. I tried talking him into trying it for a week but in vain.

As I scanned all six sides of the box of jam crackers checking whether it had the v sign and started to read the ingredients just in case, Nathen stopped me.

“I have a new argument against veganism. One that you cannot debunk…” he started.

“Well. Go on.” I said curious to see what argument against veganism he had in mind.

“You know evolution, right? We have all evolved to do one thing. To survive and multiply.”

“Hmm” I said, already kind of knowing where he was going with this.

“So, every organism’s goal is to increase its own chance of survival and reproduce. That is all its goal is. That is its purpose. And to facilitate this purpose, the organism has tools in the form of traits. Like humans have hands and legs that help them to survive and multiply.” He spoke.

“That’s right” I said after thinking for a second.

“So, why should any organism care for another? In other words, why should I care for animals? It is my goal only to increase my own chance of survival, not to bother about another organism.”

“Yes.” I said with a sigh, seeing the point.

“Well?” He asked. “What is your response? You always have one, don’t you?”

I always did. But I got stuck. We both believe only in science and are atheists. So, god-related morality cannot debunk this argument. It seemed that from an evolutionary standpoint, he had a valid argument. I had no answer. Does this mean veganism itself is foolish?

We paid for the stuff that we had purchased and when I was loading the bags in the car, a sudden thought hit me. I had an answer to Nathen’s argument.

“Nathen, let’s go inside the store again. I want to show you something.” I said with excitement.

“What? Did we miss something from the list?” He asked.

“No” I said hurriedly and practically dragged him inside the store.

The store was busy and people were hurrying about. Sales people were selling and helping out the customers. The whole store was spread before us and I asked Nathen a question.

“If organisms are selfish and as you said, they all are, then why does that sales guy help that man over there? And in that aisle, why does the salesman not take all the food for himself as any selfish organism would? Instead, he is trying to “get rid” of it by selling.”

“No offence but those are pretty stupid questions. The answer is simple. They are doing it for the money.” Nathen replied quickly.

“Right. But what does the money give them?”

“They can buy goods and services”

“That’s the key point. They are indirectly being selfish.”

“Sorry. Come again. What?”

“They are helping their customers so that they will be helped in the future. And money is just a measure of how much they have helped others so that they can be helped in the future in the same magnitude. So, they are indeed being selfish. They are helping others for their own benefit.”

“Makes sense. But how does this have anything to do with anything?”

“Wait. Let me finish.” I said with a grin on my face, for I had found an answer to Nathen’s argument.

“Imagine this interaction of helping and being helped as a system. So, in such a system, organisms increase their chance of survival (which is the goal of all organisms) not by directly helping themselves to assets like food but by helping others. That is, giving them those assets.”

“Yes, that is true.” He replied

“And a system of helping is very efficient as it increases the chance of survival of all the organisms participating in it. Do you think so much food, so many clothes, so many utilities would be possible to be produced by a single organism? No. But by working together, humans have achieved so much. If not for the system of helping, we would still be in a forest searching for berries and possibly dying because of predators, lack of food, natural calamities and so on.”

“Yes, I get it. But I still don’t see where you are going.”

“Let’s go back outside.” I said and we stepped out of the supermarket. Cars zoomed past us in the highway. And in the distance, buildings and skyscrapers stood tall.

“All these cars and buildings, the roads and so on are assets to our survival. Right?” I asked.

“Yes, they are.” Nathen replied.

“They are also products of the system of helping,” I said “they were made possible through the economic system – which is just a form of a system of helping. In the economic system, you help someone else and get helped and money is the measure of magnitude of the help that you have provided. This is what is sustaining humanity today.”

“Fine. You have convinced me that humans helping each other is something that sustains us. But isn’t that something we already know?”

“Yes. But you claimed that organisms being naturally selfish is a justification for not caring about or helping. But caring for and helping is done such that it helps both the giver and the receiver.”

“That may be true but we create these so called ‘systems’ of helping only with humans. I mean, pigs don’t assemble cars nor give me the jam crackers that you are holding but humans do. Animals don’t help you. So, why should we care for them?”

“Ah. This leads me at last to the idea that I was building up so far. We do create ‘systems’ with animals. Not only animals but with every organism that exists. This is the beauty of the ecosystem – a ‘system’ of helping in which the bee, for example, helps the plant by pollinating, and the fruits thus produced, feed the animals. The cycle thus goes on. Just like how the economic system has enabled humanity as a species to achieve so much – the buildings, cars, satellites being prime examples, the ecosystem enables all the organisms to work together to build and create much more beautiful links and enables us to survive. In fact, the eco-system is just a broader form of the economic system. And sustaining it is even more essential than sustaining the economic system, the GDP, and so on.”

“That makes sense” Nathen said with a smile.

Afterword: The Selfish Argument – A New Perspective Toward Veganism

Breaking this economic system to its simplest form, we understand that it is just a human helping another human, not for the sake of helping but for thriving. This concept is understood as “karma” in India. According to karma, what you do, you get back. If you help someone, you get helped.

We care so much for the economic system. We care for other humans. We care to provide quality service and goods, stock market and economy – prices of goods and fluctuations and things like GDP, but we have forgotten the ecosystem.

We have forgotten that there is something larger than the economic system. There is the ecosystem – a system – in which every organism thrives because of helping; that sustains you and me; that cares for the smallest of bees and ants; in which each organism plays a vital role.

It might seem to some that I have not fully debunked Nathen’s argument against veganism. But take a closer look. It is by helping organisms that we thrive. Not by murdering, artificially impregnating, spilling blood on the sacred ground of earth. It is by helping every organism, so that automatically and as if by default, we get helped.

That is why vegan. Not even necessarily for the animal that is harmed. As Nathen said, we have evolved such that we care about and only about ourselves. But because it is necessary and mandatory to make sure that the eco-system is sustained, so that you can sustain yourself.

Helping is not something that you should do because it is ‘good’ or because “god” will save you when you reach heaven, but because it is as necessary as oxygen to breathe.

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About the author, Manish M

“I am an animal rights activist and a vegan. I went vegan for the animals and I believe that together we can create a vegan world where every animal is cared for and loved and not exploited in any manner. I love writing poems about veganism and I also cook vegan food. I run Cloud Nine, a vegan food business based out of Trichy, Tamil Nadu with the motive of providing vegan alternatives to the people of my city.

You can contact me on Instagram @man1sh.2306.

You can also check out my poems @manish_the_little_poet.”