Quote

To say that a being who is sentient has no interest in continuing to live is like saying that a being with eyes has no interest in continuing to see. Death—however “humane”—is a harm for humans and nonhumans alike.

Gary L. Francione

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Gary L. Francione
Age: 70
Born: 1954
Born: May 24
Philosopher
Professor
University Teacher
New York
United States
Gary Lawrence Francione
Saying
Eyes
Interest
Sentient
Eye
Humane
Death
Alike
Live
Continuing
Humans
Harm
Like
However

More quotes by Gary L. Francione

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Forty-two years after Dr. King was murdered, we are still a nation of inequality. People of color, women, gays, lesbians, and others are still treated as second-class citizens. Yes, things have changed but we have still not achieved equality among all humans. And nonhuman animals continue to be chattel property without any inherent value.
Gary L. Francione
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All sentient beings should have at least one right—the right not to be treated as property
Gary L. Francione
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The distinction between meat and other animal products is total nonsense. Vegetarianism is a morally incoherent position. If you regard animals as members of the moral community, you really don’t have a choice but to go vegan.
Gary L. Francione
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Veganism is about nonviolence: nonviolence to other sentient beings nonviolence to yourself nonviolence to the earth.
Gary L. Francione
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We should never present flesh as somehow morally distinguishable from dairy. To the extent it is morally wrong to eat flesh, it is as morally wrong - and possibly more morally wrong - to consume dairy
Gary L. Francione
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Veganism is not a sacrifice. It is a joy.
Gary L. Francione
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People need to be educated so that they can make intelligent moral choices
Gary L. Francione
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Humans treat animals as things that exist as means to human ends. That's morally wrong. Sexism promotes the idea that women are things that exist as means to the ends of men. That's morally wrong. We need to stop treating all persons - whether human or nonhuman - as things.
Gary L. Francione
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Veganism must be the baseline if we are to have any hope of shifting the paradigm away from animals as things and toward animals as nonhuman persons.
Gary L. Francione
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Does veganism require a “sacrifice”? Yes. It requires that you give up that which you never had any right to in the first place.
Gary L. Francione
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If we can live and prosper without killing, why would we not do so? I do not see veganism as 'extreme' in any way. I see killing for no reason as extreme in every way.
Gary L. Francione
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But if there were two dogs left in the universe and it were up to us as to whether they were allowed to breed so that we could continue to live with dogs, and even if we could guarantee that all dogs would have homes as loving as the one that we provide, we would not hesitate for a second to bring the whole institution of 'pet' ownership to an end.
Gary L. Francione
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Every sentient being values her/his life even if no one else does. That is what is meant by saying that the lives of all have inherent value.
Gary L. Francione
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Domesticated animals such as dogs and cats are vulnerable and entirely dependent on us for all of their needs. They live very unnatural lives because they are not part of the human world and they are not part of the animal world.
Gary L. Francione
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Any serious social, political, and economic change must include veganism.
Gary L. Francione
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They are nonhuman persons. They are not food. If animals matter morally at all, there is one and only one rational response: go vegan. Everything else is just participation in animal exploitation.
Gary L. Francione
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If an animal has any rights at all, it's got the right not to be eaten.
Gary L. Francione
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Who I've been is not as important as who I'm becoming.
Gary L. Francione
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There is no moral distinction between fur and other materials made from animals, such as leather, which also is the result of the suffering and death of sentient beings.
Gary L. Francione
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The proposition that humans have mental characteristics wholly absent in non-humans is inconsistent with the theory of evolution.
Gary L. Francione