Zhang Weiqi / how to build food thinking power? │ PaulB.Thompson, from Land to Dining Table: everyone's Food Ethics

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From May 10 to 12, 2018, the Department of Health and Communication of National Taiwan University will collaborate with the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics (EurSafe) to organize the Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Agricultural Food and Food Ethics (APSafe). The invited international experts of agricultural and environmental ethics include Prof. Dr. Paul Thompson, who specializes in agriculture and food ethics and is currently chairman of agri-food and community ethics of the Kellogg Foundation. A keynote speech on the theme of "Archetypes for Future Food Systems" will also be delivered on the morning of May 12 (please click the registration website).

What on earth is "food ethics"? What is Professor Thompson's philosophy and research concern? In the past, I have been invited to write a book review for Professor Thompson's masterpiece From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for Everyone, from Land to Dinner: everyone's Food Ethics, which won the 2015 North American Society of Social philosophy Award for Best Book of the year and the 2017 William J. Beal Award Outstanding Research Award. This time, during the grand event of Taiwan University, we will renovate the old articles in the hope that more people will understand Professor Thompson and the initiative of food ethics.

Paul Thompson (Photo courtesy / NTU Department)

To avoid emphasizing a single position, people must build their own food choice ability.

For example, Warren Belasco's book Food: The Key Concepts explores today's eating life in terms of memory, gender, global supply chain, health and sustainability, and how people choose food. Which dimension of "identity", "convenience" or "responsibility" will be people's priority? Of course, the author also clearly points out that "responsibility" may not be the most powerful factor affecting food choices, but he believes that "responsibility" should be at the top of the list, and suggests that consumers should consider the consequences of their choices.

In agriculture, for example, Agriculture and Food in Crisis: Conflict, Resistance, and Renewal, edited by Fred Magdoff and Brian Tokar, aims to solve the "free market myth" and cut into the issues of agricultural production and energy, food sovereignty, land resilience and small-scale peasant production, with the goal of clarifying the value of the new agricultural food system that "food is for the people, not for commercial interests." Because of the clear position of these works, revealing that the choice of a certain food is "right" or "moral", it is inevitable that there is a clear barrier to liberal believers on the other side of Libra.

In recent years, Taiwan has also sprung up "small farmers v.s." Danong "," real food (real food) v.s. The debate and opposition of "processed food", and even this debate has gradually evolved into an ideological binary conflict that is mutually classified as "cultural nostalgia" or "commercial marketivism".

This book is one of all kinds of agricultural food discussions in recent years, deliberately avoiding over-emphasis on a single position from the very beginning. In the introduction, the author first explains that ethical judgment comes from two binding ─ laws and policies, morals and customs. Most ethics tries to tell people how you should act and what is "right", but Thompson does not intend to do so. He believes that in today's complex food economic supply system, people must build their own food choices and think about how individual dietary decisions may affect other humans, species, or the environment.

The author believes that the contribution of philosophy in the study of food issues is to raise questions and arguments and to keep the imagination open to things.

Introduction to brief chapters

In the introduction, although the author reviews the important theories of Western ethics, ── utilitarianism, contractualism, virture theory and Habermas' discourse ethics, the author does not intend to use any theory to develop the exposition of food ethics. on the contrary, he borrows Dewey's learning theory to show that this book will show readers a process of questioning and debating food ethics. Not an absolute answer.

Chapter one, "people are not like food" (You Are NOT What You Eat)

The author reviews the development history of philosophical theory and discusses why food disappears in the topic of philosophical concern. Ancient philosophical works often suggest when, how and how much to eat, but from Plato to Aristotle, philosophy is more and more concerned about reason, so that physical function or feeling is not a high-level philosophical hobby. Food is gradually divided into the category of nutrition science. Food choice is regarded as a matter of personal taste, and as long as it does not endanger the interests of everyone, it cannot be accused of being immoral or unethical, and its argument is in line with Mill's claim of "on freedom".

On the other hand, Marx's political and economic orientation also affects the study of food ethics. His theorists are mainly concerned about the relationship between food production and national management or system, and advocate fair distribution across classes.

The author believes that the ethics of food choice mainly focuses on three topics: the social justice of food, the environmental ethics of food and the logic of risk. "Social Justice" is concerned with poverty, hunger and distribution, and to improve justice and responsibility for the "exploitation" of labor rights and interests or ecological diversity from production to consumption; "Environmental Ethics" is concerned about the impact of people's food choices on other species, and believes that human beings have the responsibility to protect the interests of all species on earth, which should not be sacrificed just to meet their own interests. "risk" refers not only to the impact of high technology or food industry on human health and safety, but also on the traditions, practices and forms of social solidarity of agriculture or diet.

In the introduction and the first chapter, the author has a more in-depth introduction and discussion on the theories of Max and Mill, and in the following chapters, these theoretical viewpoints will become the core concepts of ethical thinking.

Chapter II "Food Ethics and Social Justice" (Food Ethics and Social Injustice)

This paper discusses how to think about the exploitative labor relations commonly existing in the food industry system from an ethical point of view. In this chapter, the author highlights a set of opposing positions. Liberals or neo-liberals believe that farmers and immigrants yearn for a job (even if it is low-paid), and even if they encounter misfortune, they cannot accuse employers of treating them in an unjust way. The advocates of social justice believe that the inequality and injustice brought about by the food system of the industrial revolution and post-industrial society have deepened the class differences of race, gender and ethnic groups, and hindered social progress.

Since injustice has existed for a long time, why has it been taken seriously by the media and social activists in recent years? The author believes that "creating a better social system" stems from the driving force for the progress and reform of human society since the age of enlightenment, and the social movement of food justice such as food security and food sovereignty is the practice of pursuing a better social system.

Chapter III "the Ethics of Diet and Obesity" (The Ethics of Diet and Obesity)

Explore whether diet and obesity are personal choices or ethical issues. The author combs the history of the development of philosophy and explores why the issue of diet health, which was once concerned by medieval philosophy, disappeared from philosophy and ethics in the 20th century, as well as the industrialized way of life and public health policy since the middle of the 20th century. and how to change obesity from personal responsibility to public issues.

The authors believe that once we start thinking about diet and obesity from an ethical point of view, we may find that it is a moral issue for individuals or society as a whole (or specific groups, such as the government and the food industry). Even obesity, food security and the effects of food on the environment or biological species are not separate issues.

Chapter IV "basic issues of Food Ethics" (The Fundamental Problem of Food Ethics)

Discuss how to solve the problems of poverty, hunger and famine among farmers, and whether they are moral or not. Public opinion and research are relatively familiar with the former, and most of the arguments focus on two solutions: one is to give him fish to eat, that is, altruism advocated by Peter Singer, to improve the problem through charitable donations or relief; and the other is to give him a fishing rod, that is, to improve the skills and production efficiency of small farmers or to help him change jobs into salaried workers.

Citing the research of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, the author shows that neither of the above methods is the solution, because "hunger often has nothing to do with production, but has something to do with distribution". The author points out that poverty, hunger and famine are a moral problem, because uneven distribution has its institutional roots, and this understanding helps us to raise the solution to the level of reviewing the system, structure and industrial food production and marketing chain.

Chapter V Ethics of friendly Animal Husbandry and Meat production (Livestock Welfare and the Ethics of Producing Meat)

Discuss an age-old philosophical question of whether ── eating meat is an ethical behavior. There are many reasons for people to choose a vegetarian diet. the author first reviews the development of philosophy and points out that there are three obvious different issues in the ethics of meat: first, morally, is it ethical to eat meat and raise / slaughter animals? Second, morally, is the current way of animal husbandry acceptable? Third, how should the current methods of animal husbandry and meat production be revised to improve animal well-being?

The first problem is the debate since ancient times, and the latter two are the problems that emerged after the emergence of animal husbandry industrialization. Due to the problem of resource allocation in modern society, workers with low income tend to choose a diet that is high in calories and lack of vegetables. Before the structure of food distribution can not be adjusted, the author reminds that vegetarianism should be promoted based on religion, animal protection or health factors, and should be ethically more tolerant of the vulnerable who lack the right to choose.

Chapter 6, "Local charm: food system and Environmental impact" (The Allure of the Local: Food Systems and Environmental Impact)

Continue the context of the fifth chapter of industrialized food production system, focus the discussion of ethics on agricultural production, and try to explore the issue of agricultural sustainability from the ecological, economic and social aspects. The author believes that there are many ways to think about environmental philosophy. for example, from the point of view of functional integrity, we will see how today's food system affects people's behavior in this system. and how food choices affect other people, animals and the environment, and whether such a social environment is the environment we want to use to cultivate the character and habits of the next generation. If we look at food ethics from an environmentalist or utilitarian point of view, we will take into account the needs of future generations and accept the vision of sustainable resources.

Read chapters 7 and 8 together.

Chapters 7 and 8 can be read together, both of which focus on today's food production technology, especially the ethics of gene cloning. Chapter 7, "Green Revolution Food Technology and its dissatisfaction" (Green Revolution Food Technology and Its Discontents), the author summarizes and explains five reasons for opposing gene cloning technology: risk management, social justice, violation of natural principles, personal food autonomy and morality. In the eighth chapter, "talking again with feeling: the Ethics, risk and Future of Food" (Once More, This Time with Feeling: Ethics, Risk, and the Future of Food), the author continues the discussion of gene cloning in Chapter 7 from the perspective of scientific rationality, professional knowledge and risk.

The author points out that under the philosophy of industry and liberalism, agricultural technology and biotechnology become tools that serve only for the sake of productivity, while food becomes only a commodity. The author advocates the philosophical view of "agrarian" as opposed to industrialism. Under this philosophical view, agriculture is not only a stage of technology, but a series of human practices and social systems, and food culture is the medium of human and ecological system. Thompson believes that different development philosophies will lead human society to different development directions. because of the characteristics of food, the author emphasizes the idea of resource sharing rather than utilitarianism at the end of the article. He hopes that human beings can develop a food system that conforms to social justice, sustainability and food sovereignty.

What are the ways of thinking about "the right choice"?

L é vi-Strauss has a famous saying: "many natural species are chosen, not because they are fit to eat, but because they are suitable for thinking." This is precisely because diet is not only a matter of survival, but also an act of culture. In the face of the increasingly developed industrial agriculture and commercialized food, as well as the overwhelming Internet marketing, people have little time to stop and think.

Today, when many food researchers are eager to tell readers how to make "the right food choices", what Thompson wants to say to readers through this book may be: "wait a minute, let's first discuss the ways of thinking about the so-called 'right choices'." This is a good suggestion. The views on environmental ethics, social justice and contemporary life risks discussed in this book, as well as wonderful dialectics, make this book highly valuable to read, but it is suggested that readers should include cultural options in the process of reading this book.

(this article was originally published in Chinese Dietetic Culture in April 2017. Book Review "From Field to Fork: Food Ethics for Everyone". Chinese Dietetic Culture, 13 (1): 205-215. Reproduced and published in "upstream and downstream" after partial modification)

Thank you: for the completion of this article, I would like to thank Li Qiuyun, Vernon Luo, Huang Xianyuan and Ye Yuzhen for their participation in the discussion and contribution of wisdom in the elective course "Food, Environment and Culture".

reference

Magdoff, Fred, and Brian Tokar eds. 2010. Agriculture and Food in Crisis: Conflict, Resistance, and Renewal. NY: Monthly Review Press.

By Dan Barber, translated by Guo Baolian, 2016, the third Dinner Plate, Taipei: Shang Zhou Publishing.

Zhu Jianmin, 2000. On the antagonism between anthropocentrism and Nature centralism in Western Environmental Ethics from the Confucian Point of View. The Annals of Goose Lake, 25:1-40.

By Warren Bella Shike, translated by Zeng Yawen and Wang Zhihong, 2014, Food: identity, convenience and responsibility, New Taipei: group Learning Press.

Fukuoka is believing, translated by Wang Junxiu, 2013, the Revolution of a Straw, Taipei: green Front Association.

Wei Dedong, 1999, the Ecological View of Buddhism, philosophy of Religion.

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