Veganism 101 An Introduction (veganism)

Question 1

About the “Veganism 101: Introduction” Deck

Answer 1

Last Updated: September 1, 2024

This deck parallels the briefing at vbriefings.org/veganism, where full citations can be found.

This briefing provides an overview of the concepts behind veganism, explores the history of vegan thinking, and provides some reasons to consider veganism.

Question 2

What are the key points made in the Veganism 101 briefing?

Answer 2

These key points represent primary facets of veganism.

1. Veganism is a way of living with a rich and continuing history.
2. Vegan diets can be healthy and protective against chronic diseases.
3. Animal agriculture is devastating to the environment.
4. Animal exploitation is unjust and causes suffering on a massive scale.
5. Veganism is a social justice movement.
6. Philosophical frameworks support ethical veganism.
7. The case for veganism is simple.
8. Getting started is not as hard as you might think.

Question 3

Define veganism, simply put?

Answer 3

Simply put, veganism is a way of living which seeks to minimize harm to animals. Veganism is primarily an ethical movement, but intersects with a concern for human health and a concern for the environment.

Question 4

Summarize the history portion of the Veganism 101 briefing.

Answer 4

The ideals of veganism were practiced by some historical figures long before the word vegan was coined by Donald Watson in 1944. These include Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi, and others.

Question 5

Summarize the health portion of the Veganism 101 briefing.

Answer 5

The leading dietetic associations of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia, as well as major medical institutions such as Harvard Public Health, Mayo Clinic, and Cleveland Clinic have all stated that a vegan diet is not only sufficient but health-promoting and protective against chronic disease.

Question 6

Summarize the environment portion of the Veganism 101 briefing.

Answer 6

Multiple studies have shown that vegan diets have the lowest environmental footprint.

There is broad agreement that animal agriculture is a major destructive force, contributing heavily to global warming, habitat destruction, deforestation, water wastage, water and air pollution, biodiversity loss, desertification, ocean dead zones, and fecal contamination.

Question 7

Summarize the animal injustices part of the Veganism 101 briefing.

Answer 7

Regardless of human-sounding labels and certifications, farmed animals suffer many abuses during their lives before they are violently slaughtered at a young age.

Horrid living conditions, painful mutilations, denial of natural behaviors, debilitating selective breeding, reproductive violations, cruel handling, and violent and painful slaughter are common practices.

Question 8

Summarize the social justice portion of the Veganism 101 briefing.

Answer 8

Veganism has been a social justice movement from the start, recognizing the commonality of all forms of oppression, whether inflicted on humans or other animals.

It is also a social justice movement in another sense—animal agriculture disproportionately harms poor and marginalized people and communities.

Question 9

Summarize the philosophical frameworks portion of the Veganism 101 briefing.

Answer 9

The deontological rights-based approach, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and the ethics of care, when followed to their logical conclusion, all support the ethical implications of veganism.

Question 10

Summarize the final portions of the Veganism 101 briefing, and the counterclaims section.

Answer 10

Finally, the case for veganism is simple, the objections to veganism are weak, and getting started may be easier than you think.

Question 11

What is the significance of “Veganism 101: An Introduction” being a core briefing.

Answer 11

Together with the objections briefings, the core briefings form an essential base of knowledge more than sufficient for most advocacy efforts.

Question 12

How is veganism a historical continuum?

Answer 12

The word vegan may be relatively new, but the idea isn’t. We can see veganism as part of a continuum in the history of thinking about our concern for animals and our belief that animals are worthy of ethical consideration.

Long before factory farming, and long before the word Vegan was coined, there were some prominent historical figures that saw the suffering inherent in exploiting animals, and embodied the ethical ideals of veganism in their writings and actions.

Question 13

Name some historical figures who embodied the ethical ideals of veganism in their writings and actions, before the word vegan was coined.

Answer 13

—Pythagoras (570 BC — 495 BC)

—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)

—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)

—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

—Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948)

Question 14

Who was Pythagoras?

Answer 14

Pythagoras (570 BC — 495 BC)

Pythagoras, an influential Greek philosopher and mathematician, invented the word philosophy, first applied the word cosmos to the universe, and first used the word theory in the way it’s used today.

Perhaps he is best known for the Pythagorean Theorem.

Question 15

What is Pythagoras’ connection to animal ethics?

Answer 15

Pythagoras believed that humans and animals have a special kinship.

He refused to eat them not because of their intelligence, but because of their emotional capacity to feel pleasure and pain.

He had a band of followers known as Pythagoreans.

Until the 19th century, when the word vegetarian came into usage, the Pythagorean Diet meant what vegetarian means now.

Question 16

Who was Leonardo da Vinci?

Answer 16

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was a quintessential Renaissance polymath, renowned for his mastery in art, science, engineering, and painting.

Da Vinci was ahead of his time, not only in designing bicycles, airplanes, and helicopters, but also in his attitude toward animals.

Question 17

What is Leonardo da Vinci’s connection to animal ethics?

Answer 17

Da Vinci was ahead of his time, not only in designing bicycles, airplanes, and helicopters, but also in his attitude toward animals.

According to one of his biographers, he was “a man imbued with an uncommon compassion for all living things.”

Leonardo da Vinci said he would not let his body become “a tomb for other animals, an inn of the dead.”

He loved animals, refused to eat them, and abhorred the idea of causing them pain.

In the open markets of Florence, Leonardo da Vinci would frequently buy birds in cages just so he release them, giving them back their freedom.

Question 18

Who was Percy Bysshe Shelley?

Answer 18

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) was a major English Romantic poet known for his lyrical poetry.

His works, including “Ozymandias,” “Prometheus Unbound,” and “To a Skylark,” reflect his deep passion for political and social reform, as well as his exploration of nature and the human condition.

Shelley’s influence extended beyond his lifetime, shaping future literary movements with his idealism and imaginative style.

Shelley, called the first celebrity vegan by one biographer,8 expressed regret that “beings capable of the gentlest and most admirable sympathies, should take delight in the death-pangs and last convulsions of dying animals.”9

He wrote a book, A Vindication of Natural Diet, which draws on comparative anatomy to show that a vegetable diet is best suited to humans.10

Question 19

What was Percy Bysshe Shelley’s connection to animal ethics?

Answer 19

Shelley, called the first celebrity vegan by one biographer, expressed regret that “beings capable of the gentlest and most admirable sympathies, should take delight in the death-pangs and last convulsions of dying animals.”

He wrote a book, A Vindication of Natural Diet, which draws on comparative anatomy to show that a vegetable diet is best suited to humans.

Question 20

Who was Leo Tolstoy?

Answer 20

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a 19th century Russian novelist, philosopher, and social reformer, best known for his epic novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

His works explore complex themes of history, morality, and the human experience.

He is leading figure in realist literature and one of the most important literary and philosophical minds of the 19th century.

Question 21

What was Leo Tolstoy’s connection to animal ethics?

Answer 21

Tolstoy wrote a book pertinent to veganism, titled The First Step: An Essay on the Morals of Diet, calling for abstinence from animal food as the first step toward moral perfection.

He says that the use of animal food “is simply immoral, as it involves the performance of an act which is contrary to the moral feeling—killing; and is called forth only by greediness and the desire for tasty food.”

He addresses attempts to deny harm to animals by saying, “we are not ostriches, and cannot believe that if we refuse to look at what we do not wish to see it will not exist.”

Question 22

Who was George Bernard Shaw?

Answer 22

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was an Irish playwright, critic, and polemicist, renowned for his sharp wit and social commentary.

His plays, like Pygmalion, tackled issues such as class, feminism, and religion.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.

Question 23

What was George Bernard Shaw’s connection to animal ethics?

Answer 23

Shaw was one of the many people who connected our slaughter of animals to the lack of world peace by saying “while we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth?”14

Shaw is credited the often repeated “Animals are my friends…and I don’t eat my friends.”

Question 24

Who was Mahatma Gandhi?

Answer 24

Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) led India’s nonviolent struggle for independence from British rule.

He developed and popularized a philosophy of nonviolent resistance, which inspired civil rights movements worldwide and influenced leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Question 25

What was Mahatma Gandhi’s connection to animal ethics?

Answer 25

Gandhi believed that “the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.”

As a young law student in London, he made the spread of vegetarianism (which then meant what veganism means today) his stated mission, and he carried out the mission by writing essays and giving speeches on the topic.

It seems he honed his activist’s skills on being a voice for animals and then used those skills later to change the course of human history.