Every objection has an answer.

Main flaw: Rationality isn't what makes suffering matter, and the criterion would exclude humans who lack it

• "They don't think"
• "Animals act on instinct"
• "Only humans are self-aware"

Main flaw: Superior abilities give no right to dominate

• "We're the dominant species"
• "Man is the king of creation"
• "If they were superior, they'd eat us"

Main flaw: An irrelevant criterion for pain; it excludes babies and non-verbal people

• "They can't talk"
• "If they suffered, they'd complain"
• "They can't say what they feel"

Main flaw: An unfalsifiable premise used as a public criterion

• "Animals have no spirit"
• "Only man was made in the image of God"
• "When they die, that's it"

Main flaw: Contradicts the neuroscientific evidence (Cambridge Declaration, 2012; New York Declaration, 2024)

• "It's just a reflex"
• "Animal pain is different"
• "They're biological machines"

Main flaw: Growing evidence of sentience in fish, cephalopods and decapods

• "Fish don't feel anything"
• "Fish have a three-second memory"
• "Shrimp don't even have a brain"

Main flaw: Confuses moral agents with moral patients; it would exclude children

• "Animals don't pay taxes"
• "Would a lion respect your rights?"
• "Rights are for those in the social contract"

Main flaw: A persuasive definition: pick the concept that excludes them, then conclude they are excluded

• "Animals are things, not people"
• "They're objects, not subjects"
• "A person is someone who is self-aware"

Main flaw: Genetic fallacy: where a norm came from doesn't set how far it reaches

• "Human rights are for humans"
• "Animals don't have a social security number"
• "Nature doesn't know about rights"

Main flaw: Explicit speciesism: species membership as a moral criterion, like race in racism

• "It's just a chicken"
• "Come on, it's an animal"
• "Humans are humans, animals are animals"

Main flaw: Treats individuals by what others have, not by what they have

• "People with disabilities are still human"
• "What counts is human nature, not the individual case"

Main flaw: Potential doesn't confer the rights of the actual, and it doesn't cover humans without potential

• "The baby will grow up and reason"
• "A cow will never be more than a cow"

Main flaw: Partiality lets us prefer our own; it does not let us exploit others

• "My family first, then everyone else"
• "Would you save your child or a pig?"
• "Species is family"

Main flaw: No nervous system and no evidence of experience; and if they did feel, animal farming kills more plants

• "Doesn't lettuce suffer?"
• "I read that plants communicate"
• "Carrot murderer"

Main flaw: Continuum fallacy: a fuzzy boundary doesn't erase clear cases

• "What about the bacteria you kill washing your hands?"
• "Do ants count too?"
• "If everything matters, nothing matters"

Main flaw: Death takes away good future experiences; the same holds for humans with no sense of time

• "If it didn't suffer, what's the problem?"
• "They don't know they're going to die"
• "They have no sense of the future"

Main flaw: Describes a legal status; doesn't justify it (as with slavery)

• "The cow is mine, I'll do what I want"
• "I bought it, it's mine"
• "It's a product like any other"

Main flaw: Species don't feel; individuals do

• "Chickens aren't endangered"
• "As long as the species exists, it's fine"
• "We protect ecosystems, not every animal"

Main flaw: Denying similar mental states is also an error (anthropodenial), and the evidence contradicts it

• "You've watched too much Disney"
• "You're projecting feelings"
• "That's sentimentality"

Main flaw: Circular: it assumes the conclusion

• "Only humans have dignity"
• "Animals are means, not ends"
• "An animal is worth what it gives us"

Main flaw: A special status no one explains and that wouldn't pass the veil of ignorance: the weight should depend on the size of the harm, not on species

• "Humans have dignity, animals don't"
• "Human life is worth more"
• "Animals matter, but less"

Main flaw: Suffering more in some cases doesn't license ignoring those who suffer less; and less cognition often means more suffering and more vulnerability

• "Humans suffer more because they understand what is happening"
• "Human suffering is deeper"

Main flaw: It would also exclude babies and vulnerable people; and explaining where a practice came from does not justify it

• "Ethics was invented for self-protection"
• "Animals can't threaten us, so they're not part of the deal"

Main flaw: A biological criterion can be as unjust as a social one: what makes discrimination unjust is giving someone's interests biased weight

• "Speciesism isn't like racism"
• "Race doesn't exist, species does"

Main flaw: A contradiction in terms: there is no compassionate way to kill someone who does not want to die

• "Slaughter is painless nowadays"
• "They are stunned first"
• "There is ethical meat"

Main flaw: They're still killed young; labels have little to do with practice, and changing the scale doesn't change the act

• "Free-range hens live happy lives"
• "Grass-fed cattle have a good life"
• "I only buy free-range eggs"
• "I buy from small farmers"
• "I buy from the local butcher"
• "My uncle raises them on his farm"
• "Family-farm meat is different"

Main flaw: The industry exists to meet demand: system and consumer sustain each other

• "I'm against factory farming, not meat"
• "Change the system, not my plate"
• "It's the companies' and the system's fault"
• "Change the big corporations, not my dinner"
• "Consumers have no power"

Main flaw: A good life doesn't license taking it; the idea is absurd applied to dogs or humans

• "Better than dying in the wild"
• "They lived well and died without noticing"

Main flaw: Bringing someone into existence gives no right to kill them

• "If no one ate them, there'd be no cows"
• "We're giving them life"
• "Vegans want chickens to go extinct"

Main flaw: Male chicks and calves are discarded, and cows and hens are slaughtered when production drops

• "I'm vegetarian, that's enough"
• "The cow doesn't die to give milk"
• "An egg isn't a chicken"

Main flaw: Laws allow confinement, mutilations without anesthesia and the killing of newborns

• "There are inspections"
• "We have welfare standards"
• "If it were cruel, it'd be banned"

Main flaw: Much of what they show is standard, legal industry practice

• "That's from another country"
• "They filmed the worst case"
• "It's activist propaganda"

Main flaw: The incentive is small and partial; it doesn't cover suffering that doesn't affect profit

• "No one would hurt their own profits"
• "Stressed meat is tough"

Main flaw: Appeal to nature: natural doesn't mean right

• "It's human nature"
• "We've always been hunters"
• "It's biological"

Main flaw: Lions aren't moral agents and have no alternative

• "That's how nature works"
• "Will you ask the lion to go vegan?"
• "Cats eat mice"

Main flaw: Being able to eat it isn't needing to; anatomy creates no duty

• "Look at my teeth"
• "Our gut is an omnivore gut"
• "If we were meant to be herbivores, we'd have four stomachs"

Main flaw: Ecologically false (the average human trophic level is about 2.2) and morally irrelevant

• "We're at the top for a reason"
• "We're predators"
• "It's the law of the food chain"

Main flaw: An adaptive past doesn't dictate present morality

• "Without meat we'd still be in the trees"
• "Our brains grew thanks to meat"

Main flaw: Social Darwinism: it describes a process, not a norm

• "Survival of the fittest"
• "It's the law of the jungle"
• "The weak serve the strong"

Main flaw: A euphemism: breeding, confining and slaughtering is an industry, not a natural cycle

• "It's the cycle of life"
• "Everything dies someday"
• "It's part of life"

Main flaw: Gets the cause backwards: there are so many because they're bred

• "Cows would take over"
• "There'd be chickens everywhere"

Main flaw: An imposed purpose: the "function" is assigned by whoever profits

• "Cattle were born to become steak"
• "Broiler chickens were made for this"
• "It's their purpose"

Main flaw: Only because they were made pregnant and bred for overproduction

• "If you don't milk her, the cow suffers"
• "We're helping the cow"

Main flaw: A learned and reinforced preference; desire is no justification

• "It's the body asking for it"
• "The smell of a barbecue is irresistible for a reason"

Main flaw: Appeal to tradition: the same phrase defended slavery and the subjugation of women

• "My ancestors ate meat"
• "It's been this way for thousands of years"
• "It's not going to change now"

Main flaw: Selective cultural relativism: not applied to practices the person condemns

• "You can't judge other cultures"
• "It's part of our regional identity"
• "That's cultural imperialism"

Main flaw: Uses those with no alternative to justify those who have one; veganism already says "as far as is possible and practicable"

• "What about Indigenous peoples?"
• "Will you tell Indigenous peoples they're wrong?"
• "Veganism is colonialist"
• "What about the Inuit, who have no alternative?"
• "What about people living in the Arctic?"
• "Not everywhere has a supermarket"

Main flaw: Many traditions read dominion as stewardship; and it is a theological premise, not a public one

• "It's in Genesis"
• "God made animals for man"
• "Who are you to contradict God?"

Main flaw: Appeal to authority; a historical context of necessity doesn't carry over

• "Jesus multiplied the fish"
• "In the Bible they sacrificed lambs"

Main flaw: Appeal to popularity: popular isn't right

• "You're a minority"
• "If it were wrong, nobody would do it"
• "Almost everyone eats meat"

Main flaw: Legalistic fallacy: the law follows morality, with a delay

• "If it's sold in the supermarket, it's allowed"
• "It's not a crime"

Main flaw: The bond is the gathering, not the animal

• "Sunday isn't Sunday without a barbecue"
• "It's a family tradition"
• "Christmas isn't Christmas without turkey"

Main flaw: Anecdotal evidence and survivorship bias

• "My grandmother ate lard and lived to 100"
• "Nobody had these diseases back then"

Main flaw: Appeal to authority; many also defended human hierarchies we now reject

• "Aristotle ate meat"
• "Einstein wasn't vegan"

Main flaw: Personal choice ends where there is a victim; every rule against harm "imposes"

• "Everyone eats what they want"
• "Respect my plate"
• "I don't criticize your lettuce"

Main flaw: Self-refuting and applied selectively; it confuses taste with a claim about harm to others

• "Morality is a social construct"
• "Right and wrong depend on who is looking"
• "Everyone has their own truth"
• "That's your opinion"
• "You think one thing, I think another"

Main flaw: Switches from "is it wrong?" to "should it be banned?"

• "Vegans want to ban meat"
• "Vegan dictatorship"

Main flaw: False middle ground: moderation doesn't make an unjustifiable harm acceptable

• "Nothing to extremes"
• "Balance is the secret"
• "Extremes are bad"

Main flaw: True in general, but used to avoid doing what is easy

• "I do my part"
• "Everyone at their own pace"
• "At least I recycle"

Main flaw: Willful ignorance: avoiding the information to avoid the obligation

• "Don't show me that at lunch"
• "I'd rather not know"
• "That's emotional terrorism"

Main flaw: A contradiction between stated values and practice (the meat paradox)

• "I have three dogs"
• "I'm an animal lover, but I won't give up meat"

Main flaw: The dominant norm is invisible to those who follow it (carnism, Joy 2009)

• "Eating meat is normal, it's not a philosophy"
• "You're the ones politicizing food"
• "Carnism is a made-up word"

Main flaw: No moral position is "just science", including eating meat

• "That's ideology, not fact"
• "Science doesn't say eating meat is wrong"

Main flaw: Disagreement isn't a tie; there is strong convergence against factory farming

• "It's an open debate"
• "Some philosophers defend eating meat"

Main flaw: Admitted weakness of will: concedes the moral point and refuses its consequence

• "You're right, but I like it too much"
• "Deep down I know"
• "I'll stop someday"

Main flaw: Equal consideration is a formal principle accepted by rival theories; knocking down utilitarianism doesn't rescue speciesism

• "That's Peter Singer, and utilitarianism is wrong"
• "It only makes sense in a utilitarian ethics"

Main flaw: Extreme necessity doesn't justify the practice in normal conditions

• "What if you were starving?"
• "In an apocalypse you'd eat meat"

Main flaw: A preference in a tragic conflict doesn't license exploiting those who aren't in one

• "Your mother or a cow?"
• "Would you save your dog or a stranger?"

Main flaw: Wild animal suffering is a serious question, and it does not favor eating animals

• "Will you lock up every predator?"
• "So nature is immoral?"

Main flaw: Accidental, unavoidable harm differs from intentional, avoidable harm

• "You step on ants"
• "Your car kills mosquitoes"

Main flaw: A rare, debatable case with no link to the industry; it doesn't legitimize buying

• "She lays them anyway"
• "What's wrong with that egg?"

Main flaw: Partly plausible; it confirms that sentience is the criterion

• "Oysters have no central nervous system"
• "Bivalves are almost plants"

Main flaw: Eating without creating demand is a different case; it still reinforces seeing animals as food

• "If it'll be thrown out, better to eat it"
• "Party leftovers don't count"

Main flaw: Self-defense and real conflict differ from breeding animals to eat

• "You use insect repellent"
• "If there's a cockroach, you kill it"

Main flaw: Protein needs are met by legumes, grains and soy

• "Where do you get your protein?"
• "Without meat you'll be weak"
• "You need quality protein"

Main flaw: A 1970s myth; variety over the day provides all the essential amino acids

• "It lacks amino acids"
• "Plant protein has low biological value"
• "You have to combine everything in the same meal"

Main flaw: Farm animals also get supplemented B12; and natural is not the criterion (C1)

• "A diet that needs pills is wrong"
• "No natural diet needs supplements"

Main flaw: Plannable with a varied diet; iron deficiency is also common in meat eaters

• "Vegans are always anemic"
• "Iron from plants isn't absorbed"

Main flaw: Calcium is found in plants and fortified foods

• "Milk makes bones strong"
• "You'll get osteoporosis"
• "Children need milk"

Main flaw: Fish get their DHA from algae, a direct source available to us

• "You have to eat fish twice a week"
• "Flaxseed doesn't give you DHA"

Main flaw: Phytoestrogens aren't estrogen; meta-analyses don't support the myth

• "Soy feminizes men"
• "Soy causes breast cancer"
• "Soy is GMO poison"

Main flaw: Major nutrition bodies consider it appropriate at every life stage, with planning

• "That's child abuse"
• "The baby won't develop"
• "Pregnant women need meat"

Main flaw: There are elite vegan athletes; adequate protein intake is what matters

• "Nobody builds muscle without meat"
• "There's no such thing as a vegan bodybuilder"

Main flaw: Anecdotal evidence; it confuses a badly planned diet with a vegan diet

• "My cousin got sick"
• "An influencer quit veganism for health reasons"
• "I saw an ex-vegan's story"

Main flaw: The blood type diet has been refuted; individual complaints are rarely investigated

• "I tried and felt sick"
• "My blood type needs meat"
• "Everybody is different"

Main flaw: Weak, short-term evidence that contradicts the large cohort studies

• "The carnivore diet cured my illness"
• "Our ancestors ate only meat"
• "Carbs are the villain"

Main flaw: Cherry picking against the consensus (IARC: processed meat Group 1, red meat Group 2A)

• "Nutrition studies are all observational"
• "Saturated fat has been cleared"
• "Meat doesn't cause cancer"

Main flaw: False dichotomy: veganism doesn't require ultra-processed foods

• "Vegan meat is full of chemicals"
• "I prefer real food"

Main flaw: Doses and preparation make them irrelevant; populations eating plant-based diets live longer

• "Beans have lectins"
• "Spinach has oxalates"
• "Plants have poisons to defend themselves"

Main flaw: A stereotype; the existing correlations have uncertain or reverse causation

• "Every vegan looks sick"
• "They're missing meat in their heads"

Main flaw: An appeal to individual authority against institutional positions

• "My dietitian said I need it"
• "No doctor recommends veganism"

Main flaw: Most soy becomes animal feed; pasture is the main driver of deforestation

• "Tofu causes deforestation"
• "You eat the soy that destroys forests"

Main flaw: Animal farming uses far more cropland (for feed) and land

• "How many mice died for your salad?"
• "Vegans have blood on their hands too"

Main flaw: Limited, temporary sequestration that cannot scale; it needs more land per calorie

• "Well-managed cattle restore the soil"
• "Holistic grazing reverses desertification"
• "Carbon-neutral beef"

Main flaw: Partly true, but that land could be rewilded and produces few calories

• "Cattle turn grass into food"
• "That land is only good for cattle"

Main flaw: Methane has a strong short-term effect; growing herds increase warming

• "Methane disappears in 12 years"
• "Cows have always burped"

Main flaw: A selective comparison; per nutrient, animal products lead in water and land use

• "Almond milk dries up rivers"
• "Quinoa took food from people in the Andes"

Main flaw: Transport is a small share of emissions; what you eat matters more than how far it traveled

• "Your tofu comes from far away"
• "The neighbor's beef pollutes less than imported nuts"

Main flaw: Grass-fed beef usually needs more land and emits as much or more per kilo

• "I buy organic"
• "Grass-fed beef is sustainable"
• "Eat local"

Main flaw: Green manures and compost exist; the manure comes from crops grown for feed

• "Without animals there is no fertilizer"
• "Organic farming depends on cattle"

Main flaw: Bycatch, overfishing and feed made from wild fish; the suffering continues

• "I buy certified fish"
• "Farmed fish don't affect the ocean"

Main flaw: It often causes the imbalance it claims to fix; non-lethal methods exist

• "Wild boars are a pest"
• "Without hunting, deer starve"

Main flaw: False dichotomy; food systems account for about a third of emissions

• "The problem is cars"
• "Focus on the oil companies"

Main flaw: Reduces a moral question about victims to an environmental one

• "My only issue is deforestation"
• "With carbon-neutral meat there is no reason to be vegan"

Main flaw: Trades environmental impact for trillions of probable victims; plant proteins are just as efficient, with no one to suffer

• "Cricket flour is eco-friendly"
• "Insects don't feel, so farm as many as you like"

Main flaw: A benefit doesn't justify using those who can't consent; translational failure rates are high

• "Would you rather test on children?"
• "Without rats there'd be no vaccines"
• "Medicine needs it"

Main flaw: Tu quoque; testing is required by law, not chosen by the patient

• "You take vaccines, so you're not vegan"
• "Hypocrite who uses medicine"

Main flaw: Profitable byproducts subsidize slaughter

• "The leather would be thrown away"
• "Better to use the whole animal"
• "Synthetic leather is plastic"

Main flaw: Only because they were bred for excessive wool; mulesing, and slaughter when production ends

• "Without shearing, sheep die of heat"
• "Wool is natural and sustainable"

Main flaw: Honey is the bees' food reserve; honeybees compete with native pollinators

• "Honey is natural"
• "Without beekeepers, bees disappear"
• "Bees don't even feel anything"

Main flaw: Few of the species kept are endangered or reintroduced

• "Without zoos, children wouldn't know animals"
• "They live longer in zoos"

Main flaw: Severe captivity for wide-ranging animals with complex social lives

• "Dolphins enjoy doing shows"
• "Aquariums teach about the ocean"

Main flaw: Appeal to tradition (D1) applied to suffering imposed for entertainment

• "Rodeo is cultural heritage"
• "They want to end the tradition"
• "The bull doesn't even feel it"

Main flaw: A convenient projection by those who benefit

• "Horses were born to be ridden"
• "The carriage driver depends on it"

Main flaw: Injury, stress and post-release mortality; pain as a pastime

• "I catch and release"
• "It's just a little hook"
• "Fishing is my therapy"

Main flaw: Adopting and caring differs from breeding to use; cats need nutrients, not meat; and none of this licenses eating animals

• "Then you shouldn't have a dog"
• "Neutering is exploitation too"

Main flaw: Little money reaches conservation; it uses individuals as tools

• "Hunters are the biggest conservationists"
• "The license pays for park rangers"

Main flaw: Beans, rice, grains and vegetables are among the cheapest foods

• "Vegan food is for the rich"
• "Vegan cheese costs a fortune"

Main flaw: A real barrier for some, which doesn't apply to the person objecting; and many cultures have old vegetarian traditions

• "Tell that to people who are going hungry"
• "There's no vegan store in poor neighborhoods"
• "Veganism is a privilege of white, wealthy people"
• "It's a middle-class thing"
• "It's for people in city apartments"

Main flaw: An argument used against every moral reform; transitions can be planned

• "What about the farmers?"
• "You want to put millions out of work"

Main flaw: Economic importance is not a moral justification; it ignores subsidies and external costs

• "Farming feeds the nation"
• "The country lives off agribusiness"
• "Veganism would wreck the economy"

Main flaw: A gradual change reduces births; the problem is created by breeding itself

• "Release the cows into the streets?"
• "They'd have to kill them all at once"

Main flaw: Priority fallacy: eating plants doesn't take time from any other cause

• "With so many children going hungry..."
• "Fight for people first"

Main flaw: Guilt by association and conspiracy theory; it doesn't assess the argument

• "It's a leftist thing"
• "They want us to eat bugs"
• "They want to control what you eat"

Main flaw: Initial difficulty isn't impossibility; inconvenience doesn't justify harm

• "I work all day"
• "I can't cook"

Main flaw: A generalization from unfamiliarity; most spices and many dishes are already plant-based

• "Just salad?"
• "Rabbit food"
• "Am I supposed to eat grass?"

Main flaw: Taste as a justification for killing: no other context accepts this

• "Bacon is too good"
• "I can't live without cheese"
• "Steak is sacred"

Main flaw: Reducing is better than nothing, but it doesn't justify what is left

• "I only eat meat on weekends"
• "I do Meatless Monday"
• "I'm a flexitarian"

Main flaw: Exaggerates the social cost; options keep growing and adapting is quick

• "What about dinner at my in-laws?"
• "I'll be left out"

Main flaw: Identity doesn't justify harm to others; it calls for a just transition

• "My family has always lived from fishing"
• "I'm a rancher's son"

Main flaw: Confuses full, immediate feasibility with a present individual duty

• "That will never happen"
• "It's a hippie dream"

Main flaw: Expected-value reasoning: the elasticity is below 1 but positive, and buying less leads to producing less

• "It's a drop in the ocean"
• "You alone won't change anything"
• "Supply and demand don't work like that with meat"
• "The slaughterhouse kills the same number anyway"
• "The price drops and someone else buys it"

Main flaw: The purchase pays for restocking, that is, the next death

• "It's already in the store; it'll go to waste"
• "I wasn't the one who killed it"

Main flaw: A partial truth used to erase huge differences in harm

• "Everything is exploitation"
• "Your sneakers were made with slave labor"

Main flaw: Postpones the duty until it costs nothing

• "In ten years technology will fix it"
• "When it's cheap, I'll switch"

Main flaw: May be a fair point about strategy, but it is neither a moral rebuttal nor a personal excuse

• "You scare people off"
• "Why don't you just promote reduction?"
• "Toxic veganism"

Main flaw: Outsourced morality: paying for the act is taking part in it

• "I just buy it"
• "The butcher is the one who kills"

Main flaw: False dichotomy; personal consistency and political action complement each other

• "Diet is individualism"
• "Do politics instead of pestering people"

Main flaw: Ad hominem: the messenger's behavior doesn't change whether the message is valid

• "How do you know someone's vegan? They'll tell you"
• "You think you are better than us"

Main flaw: A label used to avoid evaluating; veganism rests on public arguments

• "You preach like fanatics"
• "That's indoctrination"

Main flaw: Reductio ad Hitlerum and guilt by association; historically doubtful

• "Hitler loved animals"
• "The Nazis passed animal protection laws"

Main flaw: Tu quoque: someone's inconsistency doesn't make what they say false

• "You drive a car"
• "What about tires with animal fat?"
• "Your phone has minerals mined by children"

Main flaw: Nirvana fallacy: reducing harm doesn't require eliminating it entirely

• "No vegan is 100% vegan"
• "So veganism doesn't exist"

Main flaw: False dilemma and generalization; empathy is not a zero-sum resource

• "You cry for the cow but not for the homeless"
• "Vegans hate people"

Main flaw: Distinguish structural analogy from moral equivalence; handle with care and sources

• "You trivialize the Holocaust"
• "That comparison is racist"

Main flaw: The problem was never the taste; it was the victim

• "Why call it a burger?"
• "A vegan sausage is a contradiction"

Main flaw: An emotional reaction (reactance), not an argument

• "I'll eat some bacon in your honor"
• "For every vegan, one more steak"

Main flaw: Difficulty sticking to it says nothing about whether it is right

• "Almost everyone goes back to eating meat"
• "Not even you can stick with it"

Main flaw: Judging a cause by the methods of a minority

• "Eco-terrorists"
• "Vegans break into farms"

Main flaw: A gender stereotype; masculinity is neither a moral nor a nutritional criterion

• "Real men eat meat"
• "Salad is for women"

Main flaw: Confuses an ethical position about not harming animals with a menu chosen for health or looks

• "Veganism is a trend"
• "It's just another diet; it'll pass"