Ethical Veganism

Ethical veganism is the practice of avoiding the use of animals and animal products in all areas of life, based on the moral view that animals should not be exploited or harmed for human purposes. It is distinguished from dietary veganism, in which a person follows a vegan diet for reasons such as health without necessarily applying the principle elsewhere. The definition of veganism adopted by the Vegan Society in 1979 is explicitly ethical, referring to the exclusion of “all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals”.

Scope

Ethical vegans typically apply their principles to:

• Food – excluding meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey and ingredients of animal origin (see hidden animal ingredients).
• Clothing – avoiding leather, fur, wool, silk, down and exotic skins (see vegan fashion).
• Cosmetics and household products – choosing products that are free from animal ingredients and not tested on animals (see cruelty-free cosmetics).
• Entertainment – avoiding circuses with animals, animal racing, bullfighting and, for many, zoos and aquariums.
• Other uses – such as products containing animal-derived materials, and in some cases decisions about pets, investments and employment.

The qualification “as far as is possible and practicable” in the Vegan Society definition is generally interpreted to mean that ethical vegans are not expected to achieve the impossible. For example, many medicines are tested on animals as required by regulation, and most ethical vegans accept necessary medical treatment.

Philosophical foundations

Ethical veganism draws on several traditions in moral philosophy.

Utilitarian arguments

The Australian philosopher Peter Singer, in Animal Liberation (1975), argued that the capacity to suffer, rather than species membership, is what gives a being moral consideration. Drawing on the 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who wrote that the relevant question about animals is “Can they suffer?”, Singer argued that the suffering caused by modern animal agriculture cannot be justified by human preferences for animal products. Singer’s arguments focus on reducing suffering and do not rule out all animal use in principle, though in practice he has advocated a vegan or largely vegan diet.

Rights-based arguments

The American philosopher Tom Regan, in The Case for Animal Rights (1983), argued that many animals are “subjects-of-a-life” with inherent value, and that they therefore have rights that forbid treating them merely as resources. On this view, animal use is wrong even if it is carried out humanely.

Abolitionism

The legal scholar Gary Francione has argued that animals’ status as property is the root of their exploitation, and that veganism is the moral baseline for anyone who takes animal rights seriously. He has criticised welfare reforms as reinforcing the idea that animal use is acceptable.

Other perspectives

Virtue ethics, feminist care ethics and religious traditions that emphasise non-violence (ahimsa) have also been used to support ethical veganism. The concept of speciesism is central to many of these arguments.

Practical concerns

Ethical vegans frequently cite specific practices as reasons for their stance, including:

1. Intensive confinement in factory farming.
2. The separation of calves from their mothers and slaughter of surplus male calves in the dairy industry.
3. The killing of male chicks at hatcheries in the egg industry.
4. The large numbers of fish caught in commercial fisheries and aquaculture.

Many ethical vegans also support animal sanctuaries, which care for rescued farmed animals.

Legal recognition

In January 2020, an employment tribunal in the United Kingdom, in the case of Jordi Casamitjana against the League Against Cruel Sports, ruled that ethical veganism satisfies the legal test for a philosophical belief protected under the Equality Act 2010. The ruling was widely reported as a landmark, although employment tribunal decisions do not set binding precedent.

Criticism and debate

Critics of ethical veganism raise a range of objections. Some argue that humans have no direct moral obligations to animals, or that such obligations allow animal use if welfare standards are high. Others point out that crop agriculture also causes animal deaths, for example through harvesting and pest control; vegans commonly respond that far more crops are needed to feed livestock than to feed people directly. There are also debates within veganism about issues such as honey, bivalves, and the use of animal-tested medicines.

See also

• Environmental Impact of Animal Agriculture
• History of Veganism
• Vegan Glossary