What’s the tipping point for an idea like vegan living to become mainstream? Does it come down to sheer numbers or systematic changes?

The principle of intersubjective agreement suggests that where multiple subjects and disciplines find overlapping consensus, a level of objectivity can be verified. If it’s about institutional systems, there seems to be a direction: thousands of studies of the animal mind suggest animal sentience is a reality, the health benefits of plant based eating are increasingly recognized in medical research, the environmental costs of agribusiness are clear, increasingly scientific research is investing in new models to reduce animal experimentation, and religious and moral theorists are paying increased attention to the kind of ethical gymnastics involved in eating and using animals for human ends.

That’s an awful lot of agreement across multiple institutions and systems about animals. But the scales have yet to turn ideas into understanding, from belief into action.  Every day brings a choice to recognize that more and more signs point toward compassionate living.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer