Last Observations on Law, Science and Religion

Throughout this study we have seen the interactions of values and scholarship, whether science, jurisprudence, animal welfare, ethology or vegetarianism. The study seeks an alternative way to understand the links between reason and religion, science and ethics, law and culture.

Neither law, nor science, nor religion is a stand-alone, ‘rational and objective exercise’.^[1165] Each is connected to other discourses within a matrix of values and conditions derived from ethics, religions, and social and material circumstances. Law, science and religion are all informed by values, such as truth, ethics and how the world is (now^[1166]). Reason itself is one value (among others) and is in turn constituted by other, more fundamental, values that guide our rational choice.

Law, religion and even science are often expressed as sets of rules. Yet rules do not tell the whole story; they do not apply themselves. Whether applying regulatory standards, choosing among scientific theories, or discerning good from evil, the context is as important as the rule. Each case is different, deliberations must always refer to contingent values, and we need to recognise the specificity of corporeality and the other.^[1167] Any important decision about what we eat and how to regulate food should draw on legal, scientific and ethical arguments, which are only as useful as their capacity to engage with each other, and to respect cultural and religious diversity.