Vegetarian Diets, Ayurveda, and the Case for an Integrative Nutrition Science

Two recent studies of the health effects of vegetarian diets reported conflicting results: the EPIC-Oxford study reported a significant increase in strokes among vegetarians compared to meat-eaters among a predominantly Caucasian cohort, while another, performed on Taiwanese Buddhists, reported significantly lower incidence of strokes among vegetarians. This was doubly puzzling given the pronounced decrease in cardiovascular events among the EPIC-Oxford group. In this article, we make a detailed comparison of the actual dietary intake of various food groups by the cohorts in these studies. We then use the nutritional principles of Ayurveda—traditional Indian medicine—to show how these apparently contradictory results may be explained. Systems of traditional medicine such as Ayurveda possess profound knowledge of the effects of food on physiology. Ayurveda takes into account not just the type of food, but also multiple other factors such as taste, temperature, and time of consumption. Traditional cuisines have evolved hand in hand with such systems of medicine to optimize nutrition in the context of local climate and food availability. Harnessing the experiential wisdom of these traditional systems to create an integrative nutrition science would help fight the ongoing epidemic of chronic lifestyle diseases, and improve health and wellness.

History and the Study of Inequality

Economic inequality has become one of the most important themes in the social sciences. The debate has revolved around two basic models. Was Kuznets correct in his prediction that inequality declines with economic growth, or was Piketty, along with others in the Berkeley/Paris/Oxford group, correct to counter that capitalism without severe constraints inevitably leads to increasing inequality? The resolution will depend on long-term historical analysis. In Global Inequality, Milanovic proposed new models to analyze the social, economic, political, and historical factors that influence changes in inequality over time and space. In Capitalism, Alone, he changes direction to examine what patterns of capitalism and inequality will look like in the twenty-first century and beyond, as well as how inequality might be reduced without violence.

The Oxford Group and the Emergence of Animal Rights

This book is an account of the life and times of a loose friendship group (later christened the Oxford Group) of ten people, primarily postgraduate philosophy students, who attended the University of Oxford for a short period of time from the late 1960s. The Oxford Group, which included—most notably—Peter Singer and Richard Ryder, set about thinking about, talking about, and promoting the idea of animal rights and vegetarianism. The group therefore played a role, largely undocumented and unacknowledged, in the emergence of the animal rights movement and the discipline of animal ethics. Most notably, the group produced an edited collection of articles published as Animals, Men and Morals in 1971 that was instrumental in one of their number—Peter Singer—writing Animal Liberation in 1975, a book that has had an extraordinary influence in the intervening years. The book serves as a case study of how the emergence of important work and the development of new ideas can be explained, and, in particular, how far the intellectual development of individuals is influenced by their participation in a creative community.

The Creative Environment

In this chapter, the creative phase of the Oxford Group is documented. It is noted that the experience of the Oxford Group was distinct in two main ways. In the first place, the main paradigm shift in thought—the conversion to vegetarianism and, for some, veganism—occurred very quickly for the individuals in the group as a result of an initial meeting with someone already committed. Second, for many of the participants, this conversion at the formation stage was the sum of their contribution and this was more than enough, for them, to identify as part of a group with, at the time at least, a very radical and pathbreaking outlook. Straddling a detailed coverage of these distinguishing characteristics, the chapter starts by providing a general description of how the group interacted, and ends by demonstrating that there were, in fact, a number of intersecting groups within the whole.

Arrival and Formation

This chapter serves three main functions. First, it identifies the ten core members of the Oxford Group, and documents their backgrounds and the circumstances of their arrival in the city of Oxford. The Oxford Group consisted of three married couples: Roslind and Stanley Godlovitch, Peter and Renata Singer, and Richard and Mary Keshen. Next were the three singletons who shared a house in Oxford: John Harris, David Wood, and Michael Peters. Finally, and slightly more at the periphery—partly because of his age and partly because he was not an Oxford student (or married to one)—there was Richard Ryder. Second, it describes the formation of the Oxford Group and the key role played by the gatekeepers. Here, a dynamic role was played by the Godlovitches and by Brigid Brophy who did most to bring the group together Finally, the role of what Farrell describes as the “magnet place,” in our case Oxford—and the university in particular—is dissected. The importance of access to a major seat of learning that had a unparalled reputation in the field of philosophy and which was at the forefront of the development of a new field of applied ethics is documented.

Departure and Aftermath

This chapter describes the subsequent lives and careers of the group of ethical vegetarians who met at Oxford. More analytically, it seeks to consider how influential their crusade for animal rights has been, focusing on the impact of Singer’s Animal Liberation. In short, it is difficult to quantify the contribution made by the Oxford Group, and Singer’s work in particular, to the revitalization of the animal protection movement since the 1970s. Clearly, Animal Liberation has had a considerable influence, for some acting as a catalyst for the way they see the world, and for others reinforcing, and giving structure to, their already existing disquiet at the way animals are treated. It is extremely likely, however, that the considerable strides made by the animal protection movement (documented in this chapter) would have happened anyway even if the Oxford Group, and Singer’s work on animal ethics, had not existed.

Introduction

The introduction sets the scene for the book by sketching out the theoretical framework to be used to analyze the Oxford Group. The study of the Oxford Group serves as a case study of creative endeavor. How do we explain the emergence of important work and the development of new ideas, and how important is the creative community within which these ideas emerge? Explaining the theory building that accompanied the ethnographic research, centering on a set of oral history interviews with the participants, is important not only as a way of making sense of the Oxford Group but also as a device to facilitate dialogue across fields and methods by providing a trans-situational language. The theoretical framework derives both from ethnographic observation—and in that sense is engaged with grounded theory—and from the extension and refinement of preexisting theoretical formulations. This includes an engagement with the literature on group dynamics, including most notably collaborative circles as well as social network theory and psychogeography.

Conclusion

After considering oral history and memory in the context of the Oxford Group study, this chapter summarizes the content of the book, relating the Oxford Group case study to the theoretical framework outlined in the introduction. It confirms that the solitary genius model of creative endeavor is not, for the most part, supported. That is, the work produced by members of the Oxford Group, and Singer’s in particular, was the product of collaboration. The Oxford Group had many of the characteristics of a collaborative circle as identified by Farrell. However, some nuances of this particular collaborative circle are identified. In addition, some challenges to the model as an explanatory device are raised. Collaborative circles do not exist in isolation, and account needs to be taken of wider social networks, the academic environment to which, Singer in particular, was exposed, and the prevailing social, economic, and political environment.

Collective Action

This chapter considers what Farrell defines as the “collective action” stage of a collaborative circle. The collective action pursued by members of the Oxford Group is documented in the context of the historical development of the animal protection movement. The activity of the group can be usefully divided into attempts to convince the academic community of the merits of vegetarianism, on the one hand, and, on the other, outward-facing activism directed at the wider community. A discussion of the group’s activism outside of the university environment can, in turn, distinguish between personal lifestyle statements, direct and overt campaigning, and published outputs, principally the edited volume Animals, Men and Morals, which led to the publication of Animal Liberation.