1. Introduction
This Piece considers some of the ethical reasons for taking up a vegan lifestyle. It argues that all sentient animals without distinction have a right to be free from unnecessary suffering imposed by human actions and a right to reach their full potential.
Ethics is about questions such as how to live a good life, rights and responsibilities, moral decisions – what is good and bad? [1.1]. It may “prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues” [1.2]
In the context of veganism, ethical considerations will include the rights of animals not to suffer, have the opportunity for an independent natural life and to be free and respected. It will ask why we treat animals differently, loving some, and killing others for food and whether these differences can be justified
Suffering cannot be completely removed from the life of any person or animal. What is at issue here is unnecessary suffering caused by exploitation of animals by humans or for enjoyment by humans. In the UK in the twenty first century we are fortunate that there are now many substitutes for animal products and I am primarily writing about a society I know. Some cultures currently may not be able to survive without eating animals or crops may need to be defended from infestations of pests. Although these situations require different responses there is still an argument to reduce our impact on animals as far as possible.
The subject can become emotive so it also needs to be said that when looking at the ethics of veganism the intention is not to make people feel guilty, but to enable informed and well founded choices.
2. Personal Experience
I was brought up to eat meat, dairy and fish. I did not question this or appreciate that there was an alternative. I was opposed to the mistreatment of animals, but did not think closely about the steps that brought meat to my plate. As such I can understand why anyone is sceptical about veganism or views it as extreme (which it isn’t). I was in exactly that position myself.
My path into veganism came through learning about the impact of my diet on the environment including areas such as climate change, biodiversity, ocean acidification, deforestation and fresh water availability. Meat eating was “killing the planet” and it looked like veganism was a better way to feed myself.
As I became more informed it soon became apparent that there were other equally compelling ethical reasons to take up veganism including issues such as animal welfare and our impact on the lives of animals and those who work with them.
3. What Animals Experience Today
For anyone out in the countryside first impressions would seem to show that farmed animals generally have a good life. We see them feeding together in the wide lush grassy, sunlit fields and certainly this is the life of some animals … for a while.
However, in the UK the lives of most farmed animals are severely restricted and often short.
This is not the same for all animals: cats and dogs are loved, but cattle and pigs can be corralled into factory prisons, then killed and eaten.
Even this is not the whole story. We are happy for pigs to be killed, but we don’t want to know how they are killed, As Paul McCartney said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls we would all be vegetarian” – a reflection of our sensitivities; we know that unpleasant things happen in these places, but we allow others to work in them on our behalf, often with damage to their mental health.
Allowing people to work in these conditions is certainly a moral problem that should be addressed [3.1], but there is another issue to consider: the experience of the animals themselves.
4. Capacity to Suffer
There is much that sets us apart from animals and also much that we have in common. Both of these aspects will constrain how we relate to them and should motivate us to treat them well.
To begin with those things we have in common, as the 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham wrote, “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” [4.1].
If ever there was any doubt about this then genetics, biological and behavioural sciences, along with common sense have confirmed that animals have the capacity to feel [4.2]
Astonishingly, this needs to be said! Descartes, a leading philosopher in the 17th Century claimed that animals were mere machines, automata and was reported to have said that they experience neither pleasure nor pain, nor anything else. On the back of this thinking, experimenters would dissect living animals before enthusiastic audiences [4.3]
If they can suffer then surely we should aim to reduce all suffering, just as we would for others.
This thinking was recently the basis for a welcome contribution to UK government legislation. In April 2022 the UK Parliament approved a Landmark Animal Sentience Bill that recognised that animals had feelings and could experience pain [4.4]
Do typical farming methods follow this principle? Sadly the answer is No. A majority of poultry, pigs and cattle in the UK are raised in factory farms which may be certified high welfare but unsurprisingly no one would ever want their pet to live there, even for a day.
Although these are certified by organisations such as Red Tractor there are frequent exposés of cruelty and mistreatment perpetrated on the farms. For example The Guardian recently reported “Calls for legal action after ‘unimaginable suffering’ filmed at a Devon pig farm … a farm, which is part of the Red Tractor scheme, used to mark food produced to a “high standard” [4.5]
The film Pignorant, released in February 2024, shows pigs being lowered into Carbon Dioxide gas in order to stun them prior to slaughter [4.6]. The Pork industry described this as “the most welfare-friendly method available” [4.7] despite the evident prolonged distress seen in the film.
More could be said about chickens that are grown so fast and large that they cannot support their own weight and are barely able to walk [4.8] or cows hit or left to languish without veterinary care [4.9].
The point is that in spite of the legislation a “high welfare” label does not guarantee that an animal will be free from suffering
If farmed animals cannot be reared without obvious suffering and distress then in my view they should not be farmed at all. But even if their suffering can be reduced there are other issues that make farming animals problematic.
5. A Purposeful Life
The capacity to suffer is not the only reason to treat animals well. Knowledge of animal life has advanced since Bentham. It is clear that animals can communicate, although in a language we can barely understand, and they can plan and build deep social relationships.
However, for billions of farmed animals, their lived experience falls tragically short of this rich potential. Farming, particularly intensive farming deprives them of autonomy, community, family and ultimately life. The demand for cheap meat means that there are now more than 1,000 US-style mega-farms in the UK, including some holding as many as a million animals [5.1]
For example, turkeys are intelligent and social birds [5.2] which live in groups of up to twenty individuals in the wild for up to 10 years. However the demand for traditional christmas turkeys means that most turkeys in the UK are reared in sheds holding up to 25000 birds in appalling conditions and slaughtered before they are a year old [5.3]
Similarly, pigs are social animals that live in groups of around eight individuals in the wild or when free-ranging. They are known for their intelligence and have complex communication skills [5.4]
Most dairy farms will separate calves from cows within the first 24-48 hours [5.5]. If we admit that the cows are sentient, social animals with feelings and emotions, bonding to their young then it is clear that the way this is done on most farms is contrary to any idea of a fulfilled and happy life
The question must be asked, does the momentary taste of bacon, beef, turkey or milk justify the denial of these experiences to intelligent and sentient animals? I, along with many others, believe it does not. But the nightmare for billions of animals continues to grow each year.
Animal factories are one more sign of the extent to which our technological capacities have advanced faster than our ethics [5.6, Peter Singer]
There is “a failure to see and appreciate the creatures for what they are. Would people be quite so ready to snare a fox if they saw him as a social being with ties of affection and emotion to a family that is dependent upon his finding food? [4.1, Cooper]
Surely the recognition of sentience and their potential to enjoy a purposeful, fulfilled and socially integrated life means that we should not take these experiences from them by exploitation, farming and slaughter.
An objection might be that if it were not for their value as food they would not be alive in the first place. While this may be the case this does not justify the treatment that they receive. Secondly, more than three-quarters of global agricultural land is used for livestock [5.7]. If this vast area taken up by livestock farming was rewilded with forests, grasslands, peat and other natural landscapes then more land would be available for a far greater diversity of wild animals. Animal life will flourish if there is a wide uptake of vegan diets.
6. Differences
The common capacity of animals to suffer and to enjoy life is enough reason to treat them well, but animals are also different from us. One difference is their vulnerability which is relevant because of our power over them. This brings responsibility.
I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man [6.1, Gandhi]
Veganism is not about giving anything up or losing anything; it is about gaining peace within yourself that comes from embracing nonviolence and refusing to participate in the exploitation of the vulnerable (Gary L. Francione)
Another obvious difference concerns Species. We are Homo Sapiens. Animals are members of many other different species. This can lead to the idea that because animals do not have human rights then they do not have any rights or very limited rights.
Peter Singer, professor of bioethics, defines Speciesism: “in its primary and most important form, as a prejudice or bias in favour of the interests of members of one’s own species and against those of members of other species, on the basis of species alone” [6.2].
In his book, Animal Rights Now he discusses many cases where this can affect the way we treat animals in areas such as agriculture, medicine, experimentation and warfare. It is clear from many of the cases he describes that the routine application of procedures such as electric shocks or removal of teeth are enabled because those involved deny that members of other species have a right to be free from pain or a right to any degree of a fulfilled independent life. Ultimately Speciesism is the basis of the denial of the right to life enabling animals to be killed for food and other uses.
Because they are different species, it would be wrong to think that animals should fall outside of domains of justice or fairness . As Ed Winters, a vegan writer says, “If I walk down the street and don’t kick a dog it is not an act of kindness … it is an act of justice and respect” [6.3]
Speciesism does not always involve pain. “Indifference towards the extinction of a species, laughing at animals for their perceived ugliness or stupidity, a readiness to have pets put down when they become inconvenient … these are among the countless ways in which, though no suffering may be caused, people are reasonably condemned for their attitudes to animals”. [4.1, Cooper]
“We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature” (Rachel Carson)
7. Conclusion
This Piece has considered some of the ethical reasons for veganism. It has argued that the sentience of animals and their potential for a rich positive experience of life means that we should live in a way that reduces their unnecessary suffering as much as possible, just as we would for ourselves. It has also highlighted the unjustifiable consequences of Speciesism.
References
[1.1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/intro_1.shtml
[1.2] https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/what-is-ethics
[3.1] https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-slaughterhouse-abattoir-spread-infection-ptsd-mental-health-a9593511.html
[4.1] https://daily-philosophy.com/cooper-quotes-bentham-animal-suffering/
[4.2] https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-science-says-about-animal-sentience-88047
[4.3] https://www.citizenphilosophy.net/Rene_Descartes.html#vivisection
[4.4] https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/press-releases-statements/2022/04/campaigners-and-celebrities-celebrate-landmark-law-as-animal-sentience-bill-approved-by-parliament
[4.5] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/10/calls-for-legal-action-after-unimaginable-suffering-filmed-at-devon-pig-farm
[4.6] https://pignorantfilm.com/
[4.7] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/02/suffering-of-gassed-pigs-laid-bare-in-undercover-footage-from-uk-abattoir
[4.8] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10495398.2023.2270000
[4.9] https://sentientmedia.org/a-cows-life-the-bbc-documentary-everyone-is-talking-about/
[5.1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/18/uk-has-more-than-1000-livestock-mega-farms-investigation-reveals
[5.2] https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/nothing-to-gobble-at-social-cognition-in-turkeys/
[5.3] https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/why-vegan/animal-impact/uk-turkey-factory-farming-facts/
[5.4] https://www.msdvetmanual.com/behavior/normal-social-behavior-and-behavioral-problems-of-domestic-animals/social-behavior-of-swine
[5.5] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159100001647
[5.6] https://www.azquotes.com/quote/757658
[5.7] https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture
[6.1] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/838874-the-greatness-of-a-nation-and-its-moral-progress-can
[6.2] Animal Liberation Now, Peter Singer, 2023 Edition, https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/456655/animal-liberation-now-by-singer-peter/9781529925548
[6.3] This is Vegan Propaganda, pg 26, Ed Winters, 2022, https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Ed-Winters/This-Is-Vegan-Propaganda–And-Other-Lies-the-Meat-Industry-Tells-You/27206959
