I Don’t Care if a Bivalve is Sentient. Why You Shouldn’t, Either.
December 17, 2025
I get what you’re saying about AR sometimes getting lost in theory debates, but this framing creates another problem: Veganism isn’t the simple, unified philosophy you present it as, and it absolutely does rely on ideas like sentience, harm, and moral consideration, the same foundations AR discusses. Vegans don’t avoid animals “just because they’re alive.” The whole bivalve debate you referenced exists because vegans care about whether certain organisms are sentient or not. – Jahleel Wasser
Wrong. Especially from the non-human point of view. It really is that simple.
The above comment from Jahleel is in response to my earlier column, “Is There a Difference Between Veganism and Animal Rights?” I’m cognizant that nothing will make readers want to poke their eyeballs out (and cease reading VegCurious?) quicker than getting into a philosophical debate about Animal Rights. B-O-R-I-N-G.
My goal and motivation for VegCurious? is to reach non-veg people. This doesn’t mean “dumbing down” the content or the facts but, rather, to make them more accessible—hopefully, if this column becomes what I want it to be—to a new audience. The folks who haven’t been exposed to the realities of factory farming, don’t attend veg conferences, have not (and may never) read The Case for Animal Rights…you get the picture.
I’ve taken on the small task of bridging this gap. If not me, who?
If those of us who make the connection wish to expand our reach and welcome others into (or back into) “the family,” I’m convinced we will have far more success by taking a position similar to my friend and long-time vegan, Gary Smith, who posted the following on his Facebook page the day after Thanksgiving:
One day I decided my life wasn’t more important than anyone else’s life and I went vegan. Since you have the choice to live your life without inflicting pain, suffering, and death towards others, why would you not choose veganism? It seems like such a simple choice.
It really is that simple. And it isn’t only food animals vegans are concerned about. As I write this there is a “border dispute” war being fought between Thailand and Cambodia. In the area where bombs are flying, there are two elephant sanctuaries, one in each country. This week at the Cambodian sanctuary the explosions were so close that some of the elephants escaped into the forest to flee from the madness. Do we need to prove “elephant sentience” to know what the elephants instinctively know? While few in 2025 doubt that elephants can and do think and feel, 200 years ago what’s accepted today was highly contested—especially in the scientific community.
It’s critically important not to overthink what’s really at issue here. (The AR philosophers already do a fine job of this, TYVM.) Veganism has never cared if any given animal can check enough boxes on an arbitrary list of characteristics created specifically to separate us from them. Give me five minutes and I could create an arbitrary list of characteristics that separate them from us. It proves nothing. When it comes to taking an animal’s life for “food,” sentience is just one—and IMHO maybe the worst—of those arbitrary characteristics people fall back on to justify atrocities (and unnecessary dietary desires). Answer me this: We know that an oyster is alive; why would it make a difference if they were sentient? Consider the oyster.*
There’s a problem, Jahleel, that we must overcome if we are ever going to grow the movement. We must realize that 95 out of 100 people spontaneously shut down—their ears close and their eyelids squeeze tight—when we debate nuances. If we are to reach those who are not going to turn vegan overnight upon watching Earthlings or What the Health, it is imperative that we recognize this.
There’s a quote attributed to The Buddha:
Not a word about sentience or moral consideration. Sounds as if Gary Smith is in good company.
It really is that simple. 🌱
*A little P.S. to the bivalve debate: I’ve never heard a vegan or AR theorist try to argue that pearls can be vegan. So why would oysters?
