I found this facebook post by Ginny Messina to be fascinating:
https://www.facebook.com/TheVeganRD/posts/769333483096871
https://www.facebook.com/TheVeganRD/posts/769333483096871
Sentience is irrelevant because it does not factor into why veg*ns chosen not to eat animals.
Exactly. Isn't that why vegans eat plants and not animals? Because plants aren't sentient while animals are? That's why I stopped eating animals, lol.Huh? I think it factors into why some vegans choose not to eat animals.
If the question is "is it vegan" the answer is obviously "no". But if the question, like that in the FB page on the OP, is "is it ethical" than I think for a lot (but not all) vegans sentience is important/relevant. I care more about doing the right thing than fitting into the descriptive title of "vegan".
I'm willing to give oysters the benefit of the doubt until it's conclusively proven they aren't sentient. But I think sentience is important, I think it's wrong to cause suffering to others, and sentience is part of a creatures ability to suffer.
Huh? I think it factors into why some vegans choose not to eat animals.
If the question is "is it vegan" the answer is obviously "no". But if the question, like that in the FB page on the OP, is "is it ethical" than I think for a lot (but not all) vegans sentience is important/relevant. I care more about doing the right thing than fitting into the descriptive title of "vegan".
I'm willing to give oysters the benefit of the doubt until it's conclusively proven they aren't sentient. But I think sentience is important, I think it's wrong to cause suffering to others, and sentience is part of a creatures ability to suffer.
All creatures have a fundamental/intrinsic right to exist, whether they are sentient or not. Just because an animal lacks sentience, doesn't make it ethical to eat them.
And no, I don't believe that plants have that same right.
These are the same sorts of people who would eat lab-grown meat and still try to call themselves vegan.
Exactly. Isn't that why vegans eat plants and not animals? Because plants aren't sentient while animals are? That's why I stopped eating animals, lol.
Maybe some day oysters will be proven to be sentient, who knows?
All creatures have a fundamental/intrinsic right to exist, whether they are sentient or not. Just because an animal lacks sentience, doesn't make it ethical to eat them.
And no, I don't believe that plants have that same right.
^^^
Sentience is irrelevant because it does not factor into why veg*ns chosen not to eat animals.
Omnis keep trying to prove plants are sentient to justify eating bacon lolMaybe some day plants will be prove to be sentient, who knows? (from a scientific perspective both are equally unlikely.)
I think my favorite comment was the person who pointed out that if we discover advanced alien life according to the Vegan Society (TM) Definition it would be completely vegan to eat these sentient beings.
Bivalves are innocuous little critters, just sitting there filtering stuff out of the water as it flows past them. Why not let them live?
Omnis keep trying to prove plants are sentient to justify eating bacon lol
I think oysters have a better chance of being sentient than plants but I don't know everything
We could argue all day over exactly how ethical eating these foods is, but the point is, they're not vegan.
For example, both Vegan Outreach and Vegan Action promote utilitarian veganism as opposed to Vegan Society deontic veganism. And while it often seems that utilitarian/welfare vegans are a minority online there are an awful lot of them involved in activism (which kind of makes sense if you think about it). In fact, virtually every major activist organization has utilitarian-focused campaigns (e.g. MFA, COK, FARM etc) even if some members are AR/Deontic vegans.
Ginny Messina says that, correct, but the article and writer she refers to (Diana Fleischman / Sentientist.org) invents new terms such as "ostrovegan" and "bivalvegan", and seems to suggest oysters and mussels should be categorised as a type of vegan food.Why isn't that the point? I thought that was the point. The OP quotes a post where somebody asks if oysters could be included in an ethical diet, not a vegan diet. She (the person quoted) goes on to say "This writer suggests that they could be an option for people who insist that they can't be healthy on a vegan diet?" which clearly implies oysters aren't vegan (or even vegetarian for that matter).
I think oysters have a better chance of being sentient than plants but I don't know everything
Probably because oysters belong to the kingdom of animals, the same as all known sentient creatures.Why?