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What Does It Mean To Be Vegan?
Dec. 2nd, 2024 04:36 pmThe term 'vegan' is an unfortunately overloaded word definitionally speaking, and so I think it's important to clarify what it means.
Because the word vegan is sometimes used to refer to humans, animals, and food, and different people mean different things when they say or hear this term. While some of the overloading is understandable, and I do use the term 'vegan food' (for me that's just a shorthand for 'plant-based foods'), I think it's useful to clarify this term.
Because veganism is a philosophy, not a diet or a personal preferance. As such, foods are not really vegan in the sense a human is vegan as foods cannot practice philosophy (and wouldn't be vegan if they could).
We also can't say other animals are vegan, herbivore or otherwise, because we cannot communicate with other animals and we must expect that other animals do not have any human sense of ethics. Some may have their own sense of ethics, but as we lack the ability to converse with them, we as humans cannot say what those ethics are. We can say what other animals do, but we simply do not know enough to say what if any actions are motivated by a sense of ethics. Also, being an herbivore does not make one vegan. Rabbits and deer and hippos aren't vegan, they're herbivores. Herbivory isn't a philosophy, it's a body type optimized for plant-based diets. And being an herbivore does not preclude an animal from harming or killing other animals, including unnecessarily.
Veganism isn't a diet or a set of personal choices, but an ethical position that, crucially, isn't tied to one specific diet or set of actions. Because veganism is about avoiding harm to other animals as much as is practicable. And what's practicable varies depending on who you're talking about, what society they're living in, and what resources are available to them. And so yes, that does mean that vegans want other people to also take this position--that is what ethics is fundamentally about. But no, being vegan doesn't entail a specific diet or set of actions because what actions are practicable are different for different people.
When I talk about veganism, I am either directly or indirectly (in the case of food) referencing the philosophy. Since it is practicable for me to eat a plant-based diet, I do so. But that's not what makes me vegan. Because veganism is a philosophy regarding ethics. It's also not exclusively about what I as an individual do, but what I can help others do, about what I can do to help make actions that reduce death and suffering easier for society as a whole.
Because the word vegan is sometimes used to refer to humans, animals, and food, and different people mean different things when they say or hear this term. While some of the overloading is understandable, and I do use the term 'vegan food' (for me that's just a shorthand for 'plant-based foods'), I think it's useful to clarify this term.
Because veganism is a philosophy, not a diet or a personal preferance. As such, foods are not really vegan in the sense a human is vegan as foods cannot practice philosophy (and wouldn't be vegan if they could).
We also can't say other animals are vegan, herbivore or otherwise, because we cannot communicate with other animals and we must expect that other animals do not have any human sense of ethics. Some may have their own sense of ethics, but as we lack the ability to converse with them, we as humans cannot say what those ethics are. We can say what other animals do, but we simply do not know enough to say what if any actions are motivated by a sense of ethics. Also, being an herbivore does not make one vegan. Rabbits and deer and hippos aren't vegan, they're herbivores. Herbivory isn't a philosophy, it's a body type optimized for plant-based diets. And being an herbivore does not preclude an animal from harming or killing other animals, including unnecessarily.
Veganism isn't a diet or a set of personal choices, but an ethical position that, crucially, isn't tied to one specific diet or set of actions. Because veganism is about avoiding harm to other animals as much as is practicable. And what's practicable varies depending on who you're talking about, what society they're living in, and what resources are available to them. And so yes, that does mean that vegans want other people to also take this position--that is what ethics is fundamentally about. But no, being vegan doesn't entail a specific diet or set of actions because what actions are practicable are different for different people.
When I talk about veganism, I am either directly or indirectly (in the case of food) referencing the philosophy. Since it is practicable for me to eat a plant-based diet, I do so. But that's not what makes me vegan. Because veganism is a philosophy regarding ethics. It's also not exclusively about what I as an individual do, but what I can help others do, about what I can do to help make actions that reduce death and suffering easier for society as a whole.