Discussion Is it illogical to be a vegetarian and nihilist?

[puella]

I believe life has no inherent value and the universe is an indifferent, blank canvas. So logically it wouldn't matter if it was me or an animal being killed and eaten.

But I also feel like I can assign value to something that has no intrinsic value. I, personally, value life. Despite knowing it doesn't matter. I would never want to hurt anyone or anything. So I won't eat meat. I have deep emotions that are true to my consciousness—even if my consciousness isn't real.

I feel love for everything. I want to paint a little joy on that blank canvas. I don't actually care if this is illogical; I just wanted to hear what other people think personally.

 

[obligatoryshackles]

Humans are not, by any means, logical creatures. We're all creatures filled with contradictions, so there's nothing wrong with believing these two contradictory ideas, because they're both you.

 

[höstdepressioner]

I don't think so, so long as you are able to understand why this would be seen as contradictory by some people. In fact i think it's nice to value life in such a way despite it being inconsequential :)

 

[Forever Sleep]

I think there's a difference in believing in intrinsic value (probably in terms of religion) and intrinsic rights. I'd say that many atheists I know are also the most moral people I know. Why though? They don't feel the watchful eye of a God judging what they do. They do it more because of empathy I believe. They believe that people (and animals) have the right to be treated kindly. I don't think you have to believe in big meanings behind life to realise that it's cruel to make other creatures suffer. I think a lot of people recognise the importance of choice in life too. Our freedom to choose our own path. Many crimes wouldn't affect our intrinsic value (asides from murder) but- people would recognise a violation of someone's rights and our right to choose.

 

[DepressedSloth]

Well I don't know how literally you want us to interpret the question, but my pedantic answer is this. It's not logical or illogical. Logic is the means by which you come to conclusions based on reasoning. And from what you've described, it sounds like you have a logical way of going about your view. My personal perspective is very similar to yours. I don't see some cosmic meaning above, but I still value being a decent person, and don't like seeing suffering in the world.

 

[vitbar]

I am more of an absurdist than nihilist, but always saw that void as a canvas like you describe. Paint something you love in revolt against the meaninglessness.

 

[R_N]

You can be whatever you want. We are all walking contradictions anyway.

You don't need to be this or that, just be yourself whatever it is. It is fine.

 

[Harrow]

I'm also vegetarian, it pained me for a creatures whole existence to be torture just so I could spend 15 minutes eating it (not that I think eating meat is inherently immoral, but that's a whole other conversation). I don't think we can help but place some value in certain things, as people with feelings.

 

[Unending]

I guess it depends on what kind of nihilism you are referring to. I believe that cosmic nihilism is a rational position to take, but local meaning surely exists among sentient beings. Animals definitely place value on their lives and ability to avoid suffering so I think that is worth considering when determining where you stand on the issue.