WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE EAT? Part I: AN INCONCLUSIVE INQUIRY

  • Ernst M Conradie University of the Western Cape
Keywords: Asceticism, Christianity, Conspicuous Consumption, Eating, Evolution, Food, Hedonism, Human Supremacy, Joy, Kenosis, Predation, Survival

Abstract

 What do we do when we eat? In the first part of this contribution it is observed that this question is surprisingly seldom addressed in philosophical, ethical and theological literature in such a way that the evolutionary rootedness of human eating, the role of predation and the necessity of death in any form of eating are addressed. A crude typology of interpretations of the act of eating is offered on the basis of concepts such as survival, human (male) supremacy, asceticism, hedonistic consumption and conspicuous consumption. It is argued that all of these positions remain unsatisfactory in the sense that they cannot do justice simultaneously to scientific, ecological, cultural, ethical and theological considerations. The under-lying problem is that the need for predation is either employed as a point of departure or minimised, if not avoided or denied.  

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Author Biography

Ernst M Conradie, University of the Western Cape
 Department of Religion and Theology University of the Western Cape  
Published
2017-02-01
Section
Articles