> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://veganvigil.gitbook.io/overview/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://veganvigil.gitbook.io/overview/definitions/veganism.md).

# Veganism

Veganism is a moral philosophy of not participating in causing needless harm or rights violations to sentient individuals, regardless of species, as far as practicable.\
\
Someone who incorporates this philosophy into their actions is a vegan. The opposite of veganism is speciesism - the belief that it's ethical to disregard someone's interests and deny them moral consideration purely because of their species.

{% content-ref url="/pages/6C8dDnvAUi37bR9nawRr" %}
[Speciesism](/overview/definitions/speciesism.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/9JFjxSOTXcoezufFcW9t" %}
[Sentience](/overview/definitions/sentience.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

Vegans eat fully plant-based as far as practicable, because animal products cause massive amounts of harm and rights violations.

{% content-ref url="/pages/eprG2SppH75H3bClcKsp" %}
[Plant-Based](/overview/definitions/plant-based.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/YOcP0AiTftAyK0myOHvx" %}
[Animal Rights](/overview/definitions/animal-rights.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

Even the oldest definitions of veganism echo this sentiment:\
"Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals"\
<https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism>\
\
Crucially, veganism is defined as what's practicable. If it you *must* harm animals for your own wellbeing, whether it were overall ethical or not, it would be beyond the scope of veganism. Veganism is a moral baseline.\
\
Since veganism is a moral philosophy and not a diet, *anyone can be vegan*, because anyone can believe that we shouldn't cause needless harm.\
\
While veganism is a moral philosophy and not a diet, a diet can itself be vegan, so 'a vegan diet' is an accurate description of some diets. In fact, it is possible for a food to be plant-based but not vegan and vice versa. A food that has only plant ingredients but was made using animal exploitation would be plant-based but not vegan, while lab-grown meat made without harming any sentient individuals would be vegan but not plant-based.

## Historical Misuse

Because laypeople popularized it in diet fads there has been some misuse of the term 'vegan' as a synonym to 'plant-based', however vegans don't (for example) buy leather, which isn't edible, so it isn't a diet.\
\
Someone can be either plant-based or vegan, or both - they intersect heavily but are different.