Episode 64: Interview with Dr. Carlo Alvaro about raw veganism and raising children as ethical vegans

This week, I am pleased to present my second interview with the vegan philosopher and virtue ethicist, Dr. Carlo Alvaro. Carlo is an Associate Professor of philosophy at CUNY New York City College of Technology. He is the author of Ethical Veganism, Virtue Ethics, and the Great Soul, published in 2019, as well as Raw Veganism: The Philosophy of The Human Diet, which was published in 2020. His new book about raw veganism, The Book of Raw, will be published by Lantern Publishing & Media next year. He has also written a book titled, Deism: A Rational Journey from Disbelief to the Existence of God, which will be available in March 2022.

In this interview, Carlo tells me about the philosophy and science behind raw veganism, and he responds to the cliché that it’s okay to eat “everything in moderation”. We also discuss where raw vegans get calcium, why eating animal products constitutes a form of self-deception, and what we can expect to find in his upcoming book. Then Carlo speaks about why parents should raise their children as ethical vegans without compromising on this issue.

Some of Dr. Alvaro's academic work can be found online. I recommend that you check it out!

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/53895.html.
   
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-october-21-2021.
   

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Episode 55: Interview with Professor Gary Steiner about the history of animal ethics in the West, whether Christianity can lead to veganism, and why postmodernism cannot protect animal rights

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with Dr. Gary Steiner, professor of philosophy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. Much of Gary Steiner’s work has focused on the moral status of animals in Western philosophy. He is the author of many academic papers and four published books, including Anthropocentrism and its Discontents, Animals and the Moral Community, and Animals and the Limits of Postmodernism. His fifth book, which will be published later this year, will be titled Felt Kinship: The Historical Pretensions of Reason and the Moral Status of Nonhuman Animals.

In this interview, Gary speaks about the history of the moral status of animals in the Western world, and we discuss whether Christianity can lead to animal rights and veganism. After that, Gary tells me about his book Animals and the Limits of Postmodernism, explaining why the philosophy of postmodernism fails to establish the clear moral principles that are necessary in order to achieve justice for nonhuman animals. Then he outlines a philosophy of animal ethics that we could embrace instead. Finally, we discuss whether there is hope that we could achieve a vegan world.

During the interview, I read an excerpt from Volume 1 of The Keys to Freedom by Leo Tolstoy, translated into English by Walter Richmond. Gary told me about Pope Francis's 2015 papal encyclical, Laudato Si', which can be read here. The Christian scholar I mentioned in the show was Rynn Berry, who said on an episode of Go Vegan Radio with Bob Linden that the word "fish" was a mistranslation of what could more accurately be described as "relish".

It was a fascinating discussion. I hope you can tune in!

At the end of the show is the song "Sixth Commandment" by Dr. Aryan Tavakkoli.

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/52321.html.
   
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-june-9-2021.
   

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Episode 51: Veganism and Virtue Ethics with Professor Carlo Alvaro

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with the virtue ethicist, ethical vegan, and author Carlo Alvaro. Carlo is an Associate Professor of philosophy at CUNY New York City College of Technology. He is the author of Ethical Veganism, Virtue Ethics, and the Great Soul, published in 2019, as well as Raw Veganism: The Philosophy of The Human Diet, which was published in 2020. His third book, The Book of Raw, will be published by Lantern Publishing & Media in November 2021.

In this interview, Carlo tells me about what led him to become a vegan, and he explains the philosophy of Virtue Ethics and how it leads to veganism. Then we discuss why vegans should reject lab-grown meat and whether it’s problematic to consume plant-based replicas of animal products. Carlo also speaks about a particular issue that we’ll need to address in order to achieve a vegan world.

As my listeners are probably already aware, I promote a rights-based approach to animal ethics. At the same time, I think that Virtue Ethics also provides valuable insights into ethical questions. Carlo's academic journal articles about Virtue Ethics and veganism, which you can find on his Academia.edu page, are a good place to start if you'd like to learn more about a virtue-oriented approach to veganism.

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/51544.html.
   
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-april-7-2021.
   

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!