Ethical Vegetarianism Research Articles

The Discourse on Ethical Veganism as a Model for Identity Construction

The text explores the ethical components of identity formation in the modern era through popular food practices. The focus of interest is veganism as a model of identity based on (the claim to) an ethical stance towards others and the world. The ways in which food today can act as a substitute for various causes are examined. In the context of contemporary culture, veganism can be interpreted between the poles of moral imperative, the concern for the health and longevity of one’s own body, and the hedonistic promise of enjoyment of food and of life itself. The methodological approach involves a review and critical reflection on the ethical component of identity construction through the prism of nutrition in contemporary culture, as well as an exploration of the manifestations of ethical veganism in specific contexts (e.g. in the debates surrounding the production and consumption of in vitro meat).

Compromised values: a comparative response during the COVID-19 crisis by ethical vegans and vegetarians

Animal advocacy is a complex phenomenon. As a social movement encompassing diverse moral stances and lifestyle choices, veganism and vegetarianism (veg*) are at its core, and animal testing raises as a notably contentious issue within its members. This paper addresses this critical topic. Employing data from an international quantitative survey conducted between June and July 2021, our research explores how ethical vegans and vegetarians responded during the COVID-19 crisis. By comparing the experiences and choices between the two groups, we aimed to understand the variances in attitudes and behaviors in the face of an ethical dilemma, highlighting the interplay between personal beliefs and social pressures in times of a health crisis. Our findings reveal stark contrasts in how vegans and vegetarians navigated the pandemic; vegans displayed less conformity yet experienced a significant compromise of their ethical values, particularly in their overwhelming acceptance of vaccination. This study enhances the field of veg* research and social movement studies by exploring how a social crisis shapes members’ behaviors and perspectives. Our findings also contribute to a better understanding of the challenges and prejudices that a minority group such as vegans may face and how they cope with the pressure to go against the mainstream at a time when society is polarized by a single discourse that goes against their moral values.

Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Ethical Veganism

Abstract Two individuals can both be ethical vegans but disagree on the normative basis of their moral beliefs. This article will look at the development of two competing theories that hold prominence in debates among animal advocates: utilitarianism and deontology. Next, we turn toward their divergence in epistemology, the moral status of experiences and individuals, and the limits of permissibility. Last, we unite utilitarianism and deontology by noting where they converge. This union comes from enlightenment thinking, the postulation of direct duties to animals, disapproval of factory farming conditions, and, most importantly, the goal of improving the lives of many animals.

Advocating for a Political Vegan Feminism: A Rebuttal to Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway’s Criticisms of Ethical Veganism

ABSTRACT This paper highlights the vital connection between intersectional ecofeminism and veganism as profound ethical and political practices. It critically engages with the ideas of feminist philosophers Val Plumwood and Donna Haraway, revealing how their contributions, while significant in critical animal studies and ecological philosophies, inadvertently allow continued exploitation of non-human animals, especially for food. Drawing from neo-materialist feminism and recent developments in political veganism, this paper underscores the ethical and ecological imperatives for an intersectional and radical veganism. This approach seeks to deconstruct biopolitical structures upholding non-human oppression, envisioning liberation for sentient beings and ecological restoration. It argues that the boundaries between ecofeminism, veganism, and multispecies justice should blur to dismantle systems rooted in human exceptionalism and ensure non-human animals are not treated as mere tools. In conclusion, this paper advocates for a holistic approach to non-human liberation, emphasizing the urgent need to strengthen the bonds between ecofeminism and veganism. This union challenges prevailing biopolitical systems and paves the way forgenuine liberation for all sentient beings, both human and non-human.

Ethical Veganism as Quiet Resistance

Abstract In this article, I will argue that ethical veganism can be understood as a form of quietism, as a quiet retreat from a world burdened by human moral failings and animal suffering. I will also show how this retreat, although quiet in nature, is both a legitimate and valuable form of genuine resistance to animal oppression. Positing ethical veganism as a form of sociopolitical resistance to animal exploitation is not new, but thinking of it as a quietist retreat and a legitimate and valuable form of quiet resistance is a different matter.

"Friends, not food": Depictions of Animals in Vegan Picturebooks

Abstract: Like mainstream children's literature, vegan picturebooks teach children fundamental cultural messaging about food, what (or whom) to eat or not to eat. In doing so, many of these books use some iteration of animals as "friends, not food" to recalibrate the human-animal relationship. Such framing of animals as "friends" or "food" is integral to telling the truth about animal use and consumption by humans, but it can also be problematic because it risks reducing ethical veganism to a dietary practice alone, rather than a holistic philosophy and praxis of animal empowerment. To expose the realities of animal consumption, moreover, some vegan picturebooks include graphic depictions of cruelty to animals, which may not be age-appropriate for younger readers. Informed by critical animal studies (CAS) and vegan studies, this paper analyzes two discursive strategies found in popular vegan picturebooks: encouraging empathy through interspecies similarities ("friends") and foregrounding the impact of what we eat on humans, animals, and the environment ("food"). Vegan picturebooks are selected from recommended lists on vegan blogs, and their popularity is qualitatively analyzed based on reader feedback in online customer reviews. The conclusion reflects on the broader influence of vegan picturebooks on younger readers, provides more context for their focus on animals as food, and considers whether a gentler message of interspecies compassion and an aspirational, rather than identity-based, veganism might be more persuasive in spreading veganism, given its potential to reach vegan allies and other non-vegans.

Toward a Buddhist Ecological Ethic of Care

This article thinks alongside the feminist ethic of care tradition to articulate a Tibetan Buddhist ethical approach to the more-than-human world. It begins by unpacking the characterization of Tibetan Buddhist ethics as a moral phenomenology before highlighting the major parallels between Buddhist moral phenomenology and the ethic of care tradition. Having made these parallels evident, this article then looks at how the ethic of care tradition has been applied to issues in animal ethics and environmental ethics to similarly think through how a Buddhist moral phenomenology might function in these more-than-human contexts. To further nuance this ecological application of Buddhist ethics, this article then takes up the question of veganism and argues that a Tibetan Buddhist care ethic would ideally adopt the positions of ethical veganism while also recognizing the socio-economic barriers to doing so in certain contexts. Ultimately, this article argues that when Buddhist moral phenomenology is applied to the more-than-human world, it presents as a Buddhist ecological ethic of care which recognizes the interconnected nature of duhkha, the necessity of approaching situations with care as one’s primary conative mode, and an emphasis on context, relationships, and positionality.

جنم مخالف (Anti-Natalism)نظریہ کا تعارف،تاریخی ارتقاء اور بنیادی مستدلات

Anti-Natalism is a primitive doctrine and nobody has a certain knowledge about its beginning. However, the ancient Greek and Buddhist civilizations claim some signs of the existence of this doctrine and its followers. Anti-Natalism is a philosophy which condemns the life and holds annihilation as superior in comparison. The believers of this doctrine have asked the people to stop reproducing human beings. They have produced various arguments in favor of their demand to forsake the birth process. This research article attempts to focus on the introduction, historical evolution and fundamental arguments of the doctrine of Anti-Natalism. This research shows that Seana Valentine Shiffirn argues that the undertaking of the birth process makes no sense since we are unable to question the person to be born about his consent prior to his birth. David Benatar is of the opinion that we have no moral justification to undergo the birth process because it results in a huge loss for the person to be born. An important name in the list of the advocates of Anti-Natalism doctrine is that of Schopenhauer who invalidates the birth process on pessimistic grounds. Similarly, Karem Akerma pleaded against the birth process on the basis of Ethical Vegetarianism. The basic concept of Ethical Vegetarianism is that all those activities that are harmful for animals should be abandoned. The key point of Dr Gerald Harrison's argument is that man is the most disastrous animal on planet earth so mankind should be eliminated from this planet which is practically possible only if the men of this age stop reproducing themselves.

An Islamic framework for animal ethics: Widening the conversation to include Islamic ethical vegetarianism

This article explores normative ways of conceptualizing Islamic ethics, animal ethics, and the divergent positions on the ethical treatment of animals by Muslims within Islamic scholarly discourse. Too often, the literature addressing the intersection between Islamic ethics and animal ethics is narrowly focused on the topic of halal slaughter. Therefore, this article proposes a wider conversation about an alternative relationship between Muslims and nonhuman animals in the industrialized factory farming era, suggesting that an ethical-vegetarian lifestyle may more accurately uphold the Islamic principles of compassion and mercy, as well as the Islamic practice of intellectual effort, ijtihad. At the very least, a reconceptualization to that end deserves rigorous consideration within Islamic scholarship, taking the debate beyond simply the moment and manner of an animal’s death.

Plant sentience and the case for ethical veganism

Does the possibility of plant sentience pose a problem for ethical veganism? It has not yet been demonstrated that plants are sentient (i.e., that they can feel). Moreover, even if it were demonstrated that plants could feel, it would also have to be demonstrated that they can feel the affectively “valenced” feelings that are ethically significant, such as pain and fear, rather than just neutral sensations such as darker/lighter, or wetter/drier. Finally, if plants could feel valenced feelings, veganism would likely still be the ethical option, on the principle of causing the least harm.

Ethical Veganism as Moral Phenomenology: Engaging Buddhism with Animal Ethics

AbstractThis article puts Buddhist moral phenomenology in dialogue with ethical veganism to propose a new way of thinking about animal ethics. It first defines ethical veganism and outlines Buddhist moral phenomenology before articulating what a moral phenomenological approach to ethical veganism looks like. It then provides some examples of this approach to ethical veganism in both Tibetan and Western settings to demonstrate its viability. It concludes by thinking through some of the implications of a moral phenomenological approach to ethical veganism and argues that moral phenomenology is an exemplary mode of understanding and establishing ethical veganism.

Ethical Veganism and Free Riding

The animal agriculture industry causes animals a tremendous amount of pain and suffering. Many ethical vegans argue that we therefore have an obligation to abstain from animal products in order to reduce this suffering. But this argument faces a challenge: thanks to the size and structure of the animal agriculture industry, any individual’s dietary choices are overwhelmingly unlikely to make a difference. In this paper, we criticize common replies to this challenge and develop an alternative argument for ethical veganism. Specifically, we argue that individuals should abstain from animal products because vegans, as a group, successfully reduce animal suffering, and individuals are obligated to participate in, rather than free ride on, this collective endeavor. Or, at the very least, individuals have strong reasons to purchase fewer inhumanely raised animal products—even if they are not obligated to go vegan per se.

The inefficacy objection and new ethical veganism

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Should vegans have children? Examining the links between animal ethics and antinatalism.

Ethical vegans and vegetarians believe that it is seriously immoral to bring into existence animals whose lives would be miserable. In this paper, I will discuss whether such a belief also leads to the conclusion that it is seriously immoral to bring human beings into existence. I will argue that vegans should abstain from having children since they believe that unnecessary suffering should be avoided. After all, humans will suffer in life, and having children is not necessary for a good life. Thus vegans, and probably vegetarians as well, should not have children. I will consider several objections against this controversial claim, show why the objections fail and conclude that it would be best for ethical vegans to abstain from procreation.

Review: Meat the Future, by Liz Marshall

Review: <i>Meat the Future</i>, by Liz Marshall

Veganism and public health: a brief manifesto.

The minority survey of critical diagnoses of undertreated public health mediators now extends to socio-politics including collective illusions and ultranationalism.1 The compass, therefore, surrounding public health insecurity goes further any inefficiency in medical interventions. Unsuspectingly, exclusivity among biological and evolutionary species in health discourse impends the very core of a holistic and sustainable plan toward a healthy and secure society. If humanity would be a paragon of morals, reason and science, let no one discount animals as well. In the 21st century, animal suffering and farming draw a great deal of advocacy for ethical veganism,2 health enhancement and environmental preservation.3 This tripartite framework challenges the strict ecological boundary of public health to Homo sapiens,4 and means to reduce animal suffering or maltreatment, premature mortality and greenhouse gas emissions, respectively. More to the point, we are in no position, by all means of reason or logic and empirical footing, to set only the circle of public health concerns to humans; otherwise, a planetary dystopia is a known unknown probability.

The relationship between attitudes to human rights and to animal rights is partially mediated by empathy

ABSTRACT Veganism has become increasingly popular in recent years in many countries including the UK and the USA. Studies have found that vegans tend to be female, lower in Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), and higher in feminist perspectives (FPS). Study 1 (n = 311) investigated the relationships among meat consumption, ethical veganism (using a custom-written scale), RWA, SDO, and FPS, in a series of questionnaires completed online. RWA, SDO, and meat consumption correlated together in one group of variables; FPS and ethical veganism correlated together in a distinct group. In Study 2 participants also completed the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) as a potential mediator variable. The relationship between RWA, SDO, and FPS as predictors, and ethical veganism as target, was partially mediated by empathy. This pattern of results suggests that individuals who hold egalitarian and inclusive views as regards human-human relationships also tend to have similar views as regards human-animal relationships, with empathy as an underlying common factor.

The Ethics of Raw Veganism

Abstract This article is a review of Carlo Alvaro's Raw Veganism: The Philosophy of the Human Diet. Alvaro offers interesting and novel arguments in support of raw veganism, but they are of varying quality. Raw Veganism relies too heavily on aesthetic-based arguments for veganism, which are inadequate for the task of motivating ethical veganism. At several points throughout the book, Alvaro tries to cultivate psychological aversion to animal products (e.g., describing eggs as coming out of the “rear end” of an animal) as a means of promoting veganism when, in fact, a more careful philosophical argument is required. Despite certain shortcomings, which are pointed out in this review, Raw Veganism makes a valuable contribution to the literature and encourages the reader to think more critically about the merits of a raw diet.

On Liberty and Cruelty: A Reply to Walter Block

Abstract A standard argument for ethical vegetarianism contends that factory farming – the source of nearly all animal products – is morally wrong due to its extreme cruelty, and that it is wrong to buy products produced in an extremely immoral manner. This article defends this argument against objections based on appeal to libertarian political philosophy, the supposed benefit to animals of being raised for food, and nonhuman animals’ supposed lack of rights.

Veganism as political solidarity: Beyond ‘ethical veganism’

Veganism as political solidarity: Beyond ‘ethical veganism’