The below is a sort of reductio ad absurdum of dictionary definitions being helpful here.
This seems like one of those definitions that says little because it refers back to the base word (in this case “judge”). What does this actually mean? The link defines “judge” as “to form a negative opinion about”. I’m not sure what “characterized by a tendency (to form a negative opinion about) harshly” would mean. Replacing “harshly” with its dictionary definitions only makes things worse: whether a belief is “excessively critical or negative” is relative to one’s beliefs; some would label the belief “buying animal products is morally similar to buying things produced with slave labor” as “excessively critical or negative”, while others wouldn’t. “unduly severe in making demands”—same thing with “unduly severe”, also an “opinion” itself doesn’t make demands.
(Also, there’s the question of if “characterized by a tendency” means “as an intrinsic personal quality”, or if “consistently as conclusions of one moral idea” counts)
Therefore you don’t understand what Elizabeth meant by saying that most vegans are not judgemental.
You would like to understand what Elizabeth meant.
I tried to help you understand by pointing out that the relevant definition of judgemental specifies harsh judgement, and most vegans do not judge harshly. From context that is what I think Elizabeth meant.
Good luck with your quest for understanding. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help.
In my comment, (1) was ~”most vegans believe others are acting immorally.” The same isn’t true of OP’s other examples, like polygamists.
To elaborate more, I’d be confused in the same way by this labeling of, e.g., someone who opposed historical slavery but wasn’t loud about their beliefs every time they encountered it. Like, to me the central case of “A judges B” is “A thinks B is not living up to moral standards to the degree it’s reasonable to expect/hope others to”.
I think vegans are quiet about their beliefs for reasons that are usually not “they don’t actually think it’s that bad for others to eat animals.” I think the reasons are usually things like, “it wouldn’t help to speak up right now,” “they’d just mock me,” etc.
The below is a sort of reductio ad absurdum of dictionary definitions being helpful here.
This seems like one of those definitions that says little because it refers back to the base word (in this case “judge”). What does this actually mean? The link defines “judge” as “to form a negative opinion about”. I’m not sure what “characterized by a tendency (to form a negative opinion about) harshly” would mean. Replacing “harshly” with its dictionary definitions only makes things worse: whether a belief is “excessively critical or negative” is relative to one’s beliefs; some would label the belief “buying animal products is morally similar to buying things produced with slave labor” as “excessively critical or negative”, while others wouldn’t. “unduly severe in making demands”—same thing with “unduly severe”, also an “opinion” itself doesn’t make demands.
(Also, there’s the question of if “characterized by a tendency” means “as an intrinsic personal quality”, or if “consistently as conclusions of one moral idea” counts)
I read your prior comment as saying:
Vegans make moral judgments
Therefore all vegans are judgemental
Therefore you don’t understand what Elizabeth meant by saying that most vegans are not judgemental.
You would like to understand what Elizabeth meant.
I tried to help you understand by pointing out that the relevant definition of judgemental specifies harsh judgement, and most vegans do not judge harshly. From context that is what I think Elizabeth meant.
Good luck with your quest for understanding. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help.
In my comment, (1) was ~”most vegans believe others are acting immorally.” The same isn’t true of OP’s other examples, like polygamists.
To elaborate more, I’d be confused in the same way by this labeling of, e.g., someone who opposed historical slavery but wasn’t loud about their beliefs every time they encountered it. Like, to me the central case of “A judges B” is “A thinks B is not living up to moral standards to the degree it’s reasonable to expect/hope others to”.
I think vegans are quiet about their beliefs for reasons that are usually not “they don’t actually think it’s that bad for others to eat animals.” I think the reasons are usually things like, “it wouldn’t help to speak up right now,” “they’d just mock me,” etc.