When to kill an animal? || Session at IIM-Ahmedabad (2020)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Video Information: 07.03.2020, IIM-Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, Gujrat  Context: ~ Acharya Prashant at IIM-A  ~ Acharya Prashant returns to his alma-mater. ~ What is vegan movement? ~ Why should one turn vegan?  ~ What is the relationship between veganism and spirituality? ~ How veganism is related to compassion? ~ Why veganism is necessary for today's generation? ~ How could veganism change the world?   Music Credits: Milind Date ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Transcript

00:00We came to the question of veganism. So, I want to ask comparatively like Karl Cohen's

00:10western philosophers argument that animals don't have lives. So, what he says is that

00:17the right is a claim that one party may exercise against other and it can only exist when you

00:24can basically make a moral claim against something else. So, where does the right to life of

00:31animals? Animals don't have. So, rights exist only among beings who can basically make a

00:40moral claim against one another. So, maybe if we go with an example, right now we have,

00:47so there is coronavirus originated from the bats initially. So, if you are going to a

00:54scenario where you have to protect the life of animals and you need to kill a bat and

01:01create a vaccine. So, where will the extent of right to life go in the protection of humans also?

01:08See, if a human being threatens your life, in that case you have the right to kill even

01:15a human being. So, why conjure a hypothetical situation where you say that if the coronavirus,

01:24the covid is threatening the life of a human being, should we kill the virus or not?

01:31Or if a bat is the carrier of the virus, should we kill the bat or not? In extreme situations

01:38you can kill even human beings, but we are not talking of extreme situations here. We

01:43are talking of general day-to-day life. Would you go after the virus if it is not threatening you?

01:49Please, would you go after the virus if it is not threatening you? If it threatens you,

01:55by all means go after it. In that case, if even a human being threatens you, you have

02:05all the rights to even kill that human being in self-protection. But why kill an animal?

02:11Is the animal really threatening you? So, that wasn't exactly the question.

02:18Imagine if there is an animal which is basically causing the virus here, maybe in India or somewhere.

02:25So, we found that a similar kind of animal exists maybe somewhere, which is not threatening us,

02:31but which may have the potential, if we research it, potential cause for the cure.

02:37So, will we go to that animal and actually protect our own species now, which is not threatening to us?

02:44That obviously has to be the last resort. You see, again you are talking of an extreme situation.

02:51But before you do that, you must be honestly convinced that you have exhausted all other options. Have you?

02:58We have intellect and we exercise our intellect so aggressively for so many purposes.

03:06Even in this regard, let's first exercise our intellect equally aggressively.

03:12So, let's first of all exhaust all other options and then if it turns out that if you don't kill

03:18that particular animal, the entire human race can be jeopardized, then you go ahead and kill the animal. Fine.

03:27But then that is a 0.00001% chance, that is an utter extreme.

03:37When we are talking of not exploiting animals, when we are talking of vegetarianism or veganism,

03:47then we are not talking of extreme situations. An extreme situation invokes Apadharma.

03:57We are talking of our day-to-day life. In your day-to-day life, do you really require

04:05to have that egg on your plate for your breakfast? That's what we are discussing here.

04:13Not an extreme situation. In an extreme situation, seriously, if I am the carrier of the virus,

04:18by all means execute me. Why should one man's life be so important that the entire human race

04:28and knowledge and civilization is threatened because of it? Execute me. Fine, I'll be okay with it.

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