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Welcome to the Philosophical Vegan Wiki.
This is a meta-activism wiki, meant as a resource for vegans and our allies working toward environmental and animal welfare ends, but it 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, 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 (beware: some articles may be slightly snarky).
The content of this wiki is primarily based on consensus formed on the Philosophical Vegan Forum, which represents the most reasonable and plausible interpretations of veganism relevant 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 this through argument and review on the forum. 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 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).
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 violence, even against animal abusers.
- Honesty: We do not believe dishonesty, whether in sophistry or pseudoscience, is beneficial for the vegan movement. A significant 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.
- 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.
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 theTable 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.
