I have stopped eating meat..because I feel bad for the animals...but what about...?

Question

what about the vegetables?? they are alive too! i know this sounds stupid..but do they feel pain when we pick the plants to eat them?

Answer 1

No they can't feel pain, They don't have brains or nervous systems.

Answer 2

(Adapted from a previous answer)

Vegans approach animal rights differently, but all would agree that eating a plant is considered ethical.

I'll give you the Peter Singer Utilitarian approach (I don't particularly endorse this particular ethic as of yet, It's simply the one I am most familiar with) to explain this assessment.

Utilitarianism states this, "every being capable of having interests should have its interests valued no more or less than any other being." This does not denote equal treatment, just equal consideration. For instance, a man is not capable of having an abortion and thus shouldn't be afforded this right. A dog can't vote, so dog's don't have the right to vote. Every sensate being, however, IS INTERESTED IN NOT SUFFERING. Suffering and happiness are actually prerequisites for having interests and all, and something cannot be happy if It does not have the capacity to suffer. A plant cannot suffer (I does not have a nervous system, which is responsible for pain), therefore it does have not interests, so humans can use it to for our own needs indiscriminately.

A non-utilitarian (I'm speculating here) holds that there a certain inalienable rights that cannot be violated even to the greater benefit of other beings. The end result is the same.

Answer 3

Plants dont have a nervous system. Animans including humans have it, and that is why we can feel pain. Don't worry about it, meat eaters use it just to annoy vegetarians/vegans. So next time someone asks you about it, tell them to read up about nervous system. And you should too, so you can stand up for what you believe in.

It is also illogical to stop eating everything since we do need to eat something. Our bodies need nutrition; that is what fruit and vegetables are for.

Also: many fruits like apples, oranges... and veggies like paprika, tomato etc...come from a plant. They are the fruit of the plant, so you're not actually removing the plant from the ground, if that worries you. In any case, all plants provide seeds (or pollen from flowers) that will spread in different ways,and those seeds will insure that the plant never "dies out".

Answer 4

Plants have not been shown to feel pain in the same way that animals do. It would serve them no purpose.

Animals hurt because when something hurts you know to fight it or avoid it, so being able to feel pain ups an animal's chance of survival. Think about it: If fire didn't hurt wouldn't dogs everywhere lay right in it trying to stay warm in winter?

Since plants can't move though feeling pain would be purposless. They would still die or be injured, just as if they hadn't felt anything.

So don't worry, when you eat a salad it isn't in agony and screaming in plant language. :)

Answer 5

I am a vegetarian but don't believe it harms plants when we pick them to eat them. You could choose just to eat foods which you can pick from a plant instead of uprooting the plant but personally I think it is unnecessary. It is worth being a vegetarian and giving up meat and fish but it is up to you how much further you go. don't forget about animal products, such as the red stripe in toothpaste comes from cochineal, made from beetles and gelatine in mints and some cooking comes from animals. You don't need to get hung up on it. Just avoiding meat and fish is a real help

Answer 6

They are alive, but because humans cannot perform photosynthesis, we must eat something to survive. We do not know if plants feel something akin to our pain, but we do know animals have a nervous system like us and definitely suffer when hurt. Also, most of the grain we produce goes to feed cattle (which would only be at a small fraction of their current population if we did not breed them for meat), so one contributes to more plant and field-animal-through-thresher death by eating meat anyway. But you do not have to worry for the plants... The motto is "reduce suffering" not "end suffering", because the latter is impossible. It is better to take joy in every step you feel improves the world, whether it is feeding a homeless man, putting a smile on someone's face, teaching a child, or not contributing to animal suffering.

P.S. - There are people called fruitarians who do avoid killing plants. I don't know how happy or healthy they are, but it sounds difficult. Being a vegan is pretty easy though, and vegetarian is super-easy.

Answer 7

no they don't feel pain, they don't have a brain or nervous system!
If you don't east plants or meat then you only other option is becoming a breathatarian --someone who lives off of air and sunlight. Sometimes not even water.

Answer 8

Hi, plants don't have soul just like human and animals, plants don't feel the "pain".

Answer 9

I empathize with your sentiments.

Most vegans I know go by the "anything with a face or anything with a mother" guideline.

I don't know if veggies feel or don't feel. I have to draw the line at sentience.

I am not a vegan but anything that is self aware is off limits to me.

Answer 10

Hello

Are you sure you want to avoid milk, chocolate, eggs, and the like. Let's be honest is there anyone in this wold who doesn't like chocolate, well than in that case there are no true vegetarians because they eat chocolate and chocolate contains milk. I think vegetarians are awesome people but if they are fir real like, don't eat chocolate, but also there is the other side we could say that vegetarians take pleasure in torturing fruits and vegetables. Recently, many people claim to be vegetarian, but still eat fish, and/or chicken, and/or turkey. this is not a vegetarian. vegetarian is often confused with vegan. Veganism is when someone does not eat any animal, or animal products such as mentioned milk and etc.
and of course you don't hurt the pants. Also I think vegetarians are people who stands up for their believes; humans are no better than other animals, that we are all equals.