Vegan activists have been spectacularly inconvenient lately. The average Australian looks on and wonders: What the heck do these people want? And activists offer an answer: What do we want? Animal liberation! When do we want it? Now!

But this chant is unhelpful to anyone who doesn’t already know what “animal liberation” is. (Peter Singer, the world-famous Australian philosopher, published Animal Liberation in 1975, but it’s a safe bet that the average Australian hasn’t read it.)

Vegan protesters blocked one of Melbourne's busiest intersections on Monday. Credit:Zach Hope

So, again: What do the activists want? For a start, they want you to stop consuming animal products—to go vegan. As a professional ethicist, I’m in a position to offer some small assistance in thinking about the reasonableness of that particular demand.

The activists make a straightforward argument. They argue that consumption of animal products fuels an industry that is cruel and exploitative, killing many tens of billions of animals annually, and that mere gustatory pleasure cannot justify our support for such an industry — especially given that nutritious and delicious vegan food is becoming ever more abundant to serve the growing vegan market.