Our Mission
Win the argument by steelmanning it first.
To make the case for animals impossible to dismiss on bad reasoning, by stating every argument against it at its strongest and answering that version.
The same arguments, over and over
The vegan debate is stuck in a loop. The same dozen arguments get recycled across dinner tables, comment sections and podcasts, rarely examined and rarely resolved. Most people on both sides are working from instinct rather than from evidence, and the result is that nobody changes their mind about anything.
That is a solvable problem. These arguments are finite, they are well known, and they can be set out properly.
What this site actually does
Every argument gets four things: the claim as the person making it would put it, the strongest honest version of that claim, a considered answer to that strongest version, and the reasoning errors involved, each with an explanation of what went wrong.
That last part matters. Naming a fallacy proves nothing on its own. A label without an explanation is a way of sounding rigorous while doing no work, so no argument here carries one unless it says what the arguer actually did.
What we will not do
We will not answer a weak version of an argument. If the version stated here is easier to knock down than the one you hold, we have failed, and the response is worthless.
We will not pretend an objection has no force when it does. Several arguments against veganism contain something real, and saying so is both honest and more persuasive than denying it.
We will not treat factory farming as the problem. Most people already oppose factory farming, and an argument aimed only at intensive systems tells the reader that their own purchases are the acceptable kind.
Differences in welfare between farming systems are real and worth being precise about. They change how much harm is done, not whether it was necessary.
Not just for vegans
If you are vegan, use it to prepare for hard conversations, and to stop using the replies that do not work. If you are sceptical, use it to find the strongest version of arguments you have probably only heard badly made. If you study philosophy or ethics, use it as a practical reference.
This is version one
The argument set will grow, and the references behind each response are being rebuilt. Arguments are added as they turn up in real debates rather than imagined in advance.
An independent project with no affiliation to any vegan organisation.