A2philosophy

Stop paying taxes? Escape to the woods? Sit in? Why not go vegetarian instead?

experiments with alternative ways of life.

But it’s worth bearing in mind that vegetarianism, at its roots, was not considered a simple dietary choice; it was an act of civil disobedience. Alcott spearheaded the strategy of tax evasion as a means of opposition to war and slavery, the same strategies Thoreau wrote about in Civil Disobedience. He was a dissident of the first degree — an outspoken abolitionist, promoter of women’s rights, and educational reformer. His vegetarianism was not just a natural extension of these values; it was his reformist ideals put into practice. One individual was not going to single-handedly end slavery, but could easily live a life that practiced nonviolence and equality.

I want to talk today about just one such detailed problem and its historical fate, the ideal of freedom, especially an understanding of what it is to lead one’s own life in such a way that it requires protection of basic entitlements for individuals (like property rights) and that understands human agency as resulting in actions by individuals for which they may be held individually responsible.