"But here the sons of science sport with the sentiments of mercy; and why, with a malicious grin, demands the modern sophist, why then is man furnished with the canine, or dog-teeth, except that nature meant him carnivorous?—Fallacious argument! Is the fitness of an action to be determined purely by the physical capacity of the agent? Because nature, kindly provident, has bestowed upon us a superabundance of animal vigour, does it follow that we ought to abuse, by habitual exertions, an excess of force, evidently granted to guard our existence on occasions of dire distress? In cases of extreme famine we destroy and devour each other; but from thence will any one pretend to prove, that man was made to feed upon his fellow men?"
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AtheistsAnimal rights activistsActivists from the United KingdomAuthors from ScotlandAnti-vivisectionists
Original Language: English
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pp. 12–13
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Oswald_(revolutionary)
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John Oswald (revolutionary)
(c. 1760 – 14 September 1793) was a Scottish philosopher, poet, journalist, and revolutionary. Initially an officer in the British Army, he became disillusioned with colonialism while serving in India and adopted vegetarianism after living among Hindu communities. On returning to Britain, he became involved in radical literary and political circles in London, contributing to journals and publishing works advocating republicanism, direct democracy, atheism, animal rights, and vegetarianism.
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