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Welcome to the Philosophical Vegan Wiki.

This is mainly a meta-activism and vegan information wiki, and it is meant as a resource for vegans and our allies working toward environmental and animal welfare (or rights, to some day see an end to unnecessary animal harm) ends. The content ranges from healthy vegan staple recipes to help people go and stay vegan from a nutritional perspective (rather than junk food recipes that are easy to find elsewhere on the internet) to articles on the philosophical basis for veganism. This may also be helpful as an information source for anybody interested in these topics. While we're happy for non-vegans to read the wiki and be convinced of veganism or try more vegan recipes, the Wiki itself is written to provide more in-depth information for people already interested in the subject rather than as outreach, and as such the tone of articles is often very different from what we would recommend for outreach (including some language that may unintentionally offend meat eaters; for outreach vegans should usually try to avoid putting people on the defensive too much). In the case of recipes, often the best outreach recipes are more junk-food oriented to meet people where they already are in their diets, while the recipes here are mainly for people who are vegan or have already decided to go vegan for health maintenance and every day convenience rather than special treats.

The empirical content of this wiki is based on extensive research, and the philosophical content is primarily based on consensus formed on the Philosophical Vegan Forum or on the Philosophical Vegan Discord, which represents the most reasonable and plausible interpretations of veganism given the philosophical and empirical information we have come to. In contrast to a site like Wikipedia, you may notice the single-viewpoint represented in articles; this derives from the consensus process. Rather than present a jumble of arguments and leaving the reader to work out which is correct, we establish a consensus through argument and review on the forum and other venues. When we find new arguments, the consensus may shift, so please visit the forum and let us know if you disagree with anything you see here. A strong consensus is reflected by a very authoritarian tone (e.g. there are no two sides to the fact that the mammals and birds who humans farm are sentient and feel pain: this is non-controversially true) a weaker consensus is reflected by a more moderate tone (e.g. it's less clear if the same is true of insects; there's scientific uncertainty there, but please try to be nice to them in case they are sentient because there's a very good chance that they are to some degree). We do not pretend to be unbiased; we are pro-vegan, specifically from an ethical perspective, and we are in favor of changes that bring people closer to veganism for reasons of environmental ethics, animal ethics, and even health.

There are three overarching core principles that inform the consensus here, and these are not going to change:

  • Non-Violence: We do not advocate or condone personal violence or violent vigilante action, even against animal abusers who are otherwise protected by the law. Instead, we recommend that activists should focus on changing the law and working within it. Unlawful civil disobedience can be an important tool of activism against harmful "unjust" laws, but when breaking the law activists should remain non-violent to retain the high ground in court in arguing against the law itself rather than justifying their own punishment. This prohibition against personal violence also applies to reckless actions like arson that threaten human life (even if the death is not intentional, the activists who started the fire caused it and knew it might kill somebody). This does not apply to lawful uses of force.
  • Honesty: We do not believe dishonesty, whether in sophistry or pseudoscience, is beneficial for the vegan movement. Part of this Wiki is dedicated to debunking bad vegan arguments which we believe are counterproductive because we want people to use better methods. Dishonesty makes vegans look bad, and harms our credibility. Correcting mistaken arguments is one of the best ways to ensure that people use good arguments that are as convincing as possible.
  • Pragmatism: We are interested in doing the most good, and saving the most lives. Sometimes that happens by asking for less than what we want (e.g. go vegetarian or to try Meatless Monday) because it may result in more people changing and saving more animals overall vs. telling them to go vegan. Other times the most good may be achieved by working with people we don't agree with. Pragmatism doesn't always mean being nice, and shaming may have its place in certain circumstances, but it usually means at least being nice to carnists who represent the cultural majority (for whom shaming is counter-productive). Pragmatism often also means not obsessing over purity; the perfect can be the enemy of the good. Sometimes it even means siding against a badly behaved vegan who over uses shaming and shock tactics -- badly behaved vegans can reflect poorly on veganism and may turn people from veganism. Of course when people choose to harm animals because they were offended by vegans the moral flaw lies in those people, however, the end result is the same for animals. Consider it from the animals' perspectives: If you were suffering under an oppressor, would you rather people fighting for you be nice to the oppressors to convince them to change and stop harming you (resulting in less harm to you), or would you rather those people be understandably rude to the oppressor and make the oppressor feel false justification for continuing your oppression (resulting in more harm to you)?

Due to vandalism, editing permissions here are limited to certain trusted usergroups. If you are interested in getting involved in editing, please sign up on the forum and participate for a little while so we know who you are. Also, please read the Editing Guidelines.

This Wiki has evolved from the forum as a way to focus our effort and collaborate to bring all of the knowledge and arguments together in a more structured and digestible way without having to dig through lengthy discussions, but those discussions themselves are still hosted on the forum (and are often ongoing), so that's an important way to get started.


For vegan outreach and activism, see our work on leaflets/pamphlets.

For ongoing Wiki progress and what articles you may be able to contribute to, see the Table of Contents for our current project outline.

About for project ambitions.

And Recent Changes for all new updates and links to talk pages for lively discussion.


Help

Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software.

Registering

If you have trouble registering or are IP blocked (probably an automatic block due to shared address) please post on the philosophical vegan forum in the support section and we'll help you.

You do not need to publicly share your IP address as long as you are posting from the same IP, just let us know that you're blocked and would like to be unblocked so you can register.

Getting started