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Paper short abstract

DACH literature on vegan diets documents substantial demand to include more-than-human communities in considerations of worth and care, beyond CT’s pivot of a 'common humanity'. To account for contemporary ethical and sustainability crises, a posthuman perspective and justice lens view are proposed.

Paper long abstract

When people debate about food that is adequate, right or good for themselves, their families, society or the planet, they implicitly or explicitly refer to justifications, in an attempt to move beyond expressing a personal motivation towards building a legitimate, generalizable claim that is relevant for a common good. From this theoretical lens of Convention Theory (CT) and drawing, in particular, on Boltanski and Thévenot’s ‘orders of worth’ approach, (food) preferences routinely get challenged for the coherence of the justification logic they invoke. The interrelated two research questions of this systematic literature review address the motivations and justifications influencing veganism in the German-speaking countries of Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH), providing a comprehensive understanding of the cognitive conditions substantiating vegan diets. Results confirm previous research findings that, in a European context, vegan dietary choices are predominantly motivated by animal, environmental and health considerations. The application of Convention Theory to examine justifications for veganism documents substantial demand for the extension of justice beyond the theory’s pivotal assumption of a ‘common humanity’ which fails to find representation in the original framework. To overcome the theory’s conceptual limitations in adequately reflecting more-than-human value and being able to account for contemporary ethical and sustainability crises, a posthuman perspective and justice lens focus are proposed that include more-than-human communities in considerations of worth and care.

Key words: vegan, more-than-human communities, justification, justice