Answers from the UVM team to common questions about vegan food ethics and animal rights, collected over many years. Choose a topic below. If you are just starting out and looking for practical information, start with our Practical guide to vegan life in Moldova.
Topics: About eating meat: tradition, morality and law · Practical consequences: farmers, economy and farmed animals · Animal rights · Nature and the food chain · Consciousness, intelligence and pain · Plants · Insects · Animal testing and medicine · Religion and the soul
About eating meat: tradition, morality and law
- Why Is It Wrong to Eat Meat?
- Haven’t Humans Eaten Meat Ever Since They Appeared on Earth?
- Isn’t Eating Meat Part of Our Cultural Heritage?
- Don’t Most People Think There Is Nothing Morally Wrong with Eating Meat?
- When We Eat Meat, We Aren’t Breaking Any Laws
- Is Meat Too Tasty to Give Up for Veganism?
- What About Situations Where People Need to Eat Meat to Survive?
- What If Humans Treat and Slaughter Farmed Animals Humanely?
- Do You Want to Make Eating Meat Illegal?
- Isn’t It Wrong for Vegans to Act Superior and Try to Convert People?
- Isn’t It Insulting to Compare Human Beings with Animals?
Practical consequences: farmers, economy and farmed animals
- If Everyone Became Vegan, What Would Happen to Farmed Animals?
- If Everyone Became Vegan, Would Those Dependent on Animal Farming Face Economic Hardship?
- Aren’t the Animals Already Dead When We Buy Meat from a Shop?
- What About Eating Animals Killed in Road Accidents?
- Aren’t Animals Also Killed during Harvests and Road Construction?
- If We Didn’t Raise Animals for Food, Would They Miss Out on Life?
- Shouldn’t We Focus on Human Problems before Worrying about Animals?
- Doesn’t Our Duty to Other People Come First?
Animal rights
- What Does the Word “Rights” Mean?
- Where Do Rights Come From?
- How Can Animals Have Rights?
- Why Should We Treat Animals Better Than They Treat One Another?
- Why Do We Have Moral Obligations to Animals That Don’t Understand Moral Concepts?
- What Do We Gain by Respecting Other Animals’ Rights if They Don’t Respect Ours?
- Are Only Humans Able to Enter into Social Agreements?
- What Do Animal-Rights Activists Think about Abortion?
Nature and the food chain
- Humans Are Part of the Food Chain; Eating Meat Is Natural
- What About Other Animals Killing and Eating One Another?
- What Do You Think of “Survival of the Fittest”?
- Why Don’t We Stop Other Animals from Killing and Eating One Another?
- How Common Is Cannibalism in the Animal Kingdom?
- Is Human Hunting of Deer Necessary to Prevent Overpopulation?
Consciousness, intelligence and pain: what animals can do
- Are Only Humans Able to Use Tools?
- Do Only Humans Understand the Concept of Death?
- Are Only Humans Able to Use Language and Understand Abstract Concepts?
- Are Only Humans Self-Aware?
- Are Only Humans Able to Pass Cultural Information from One Generation to the Next?
- How Do We Know That Other Animals Can Feel Pain?
- Where Does Consciousness Begin in the Animal Kingdom?
- Is It Acceptable to Kill Animals That Lack Consciousness?
- What Evidence Is There That Other Animals Can Make Moral Decisions?
- How Can Some Animal-Rights Activists Consider Other Animals Our Equals?
- Would You Save Your Child or Your Dog?
Plants
- What About Killing Plants?
- How Do You Know That Plants Cannot Feel Pain?
- What Would You Do If We Discovered That Plants Can Feel Pain?
- Do Plants Move Their Leaves to Follow the Sun?
- Are There Religions That Believe Plants Have Souls?
Insects
- What About Insects?
- What Would You Do If a Colony of Insects Invaded Your Home?
- Is Killing an Insect Morally Equivalent to Killing a Bird or Mammal?
- Do Insects Behave Only by Instinct?
- Could All Insect Behaviour Be Predicted by a Predetermined Algorithm?
Animal testing and medicine
- What Are the Alternatives to Animal Testing?
- Do Animal-Rights Supporters Use Life-Saving Medicines Developed through Animal Testing?
- What If a Cure for Cancer Could Be Produced by an Experiment on One Animal?
- Aren’t There Laws Regulating the Use of Animals in Laboratories?
- How Is Animal Testing Different from Other Situations Where People Kill Animals to Survive?