Running head: SUMMARY ANALYSIS 1

Summary Analysis of “Are Vegans Obligated to eat Insects?”

Student’s Name:

Institutional Affiliation:

Date:
SUMMARY ANALYSIS 2

Summary Analysis of “Are Vegans Obligated to eat Insects?”

In “Are Vegans obligated to eat Insects?” by James McWilliams, the author argues that

vegans are ethically obligated to eat insects in the sense that insects are not sentient creatures,

and that, their ability to feel pain is not adequately justified. He adds that the most significant

aim of a vegan is to minimize the suffering imposed on animals. Thus, an exclusively plant-

based diet is not the only option. However, in the contemporary world, curiosity among

sustainability experts and adventurers has made it possible for several people to consider

consuming insects. The claims seem to have been justified by the fact that insects possess

sufficient nutrients, in the agricultural sector, they help feed on agricultural waste, and they

reproduce rapidly without extra human input. Several studies claim that insects hit right on

target when it comes to provisioning of nutrient sufficient foods. Despite all the benefits that

insects have to human health, there is still some human population who are not for the idea of

feeding on insects.

Consequently, in the author’s opinion, several arguable opinions will help justify if vegans

are obligated to eat insects. First, insects are animals and that vegans do not consume

animals. But if consumption of insects will help reduce the rate of harm caused to animals,

then the claims of vegans obligated to eat insects should not be arguable. Thus, through

implementing various rhetorical appeal tools, the essay will focus majorly on the facts behind

eliminating the harm caused to animals by not only feeding exclusively on the plant-based

diet.

Conversely, the article has projected its ability to implement most of the rhetorical appeal

tools, including pathos, logos, and ethos. Each of these tools will be analysed based on

different instances in the article. To demonstrate, pathos tool has been implemented in the

report through different author’s idea. Basing on the words used by the author, it can be

justified that the readers can easily draw mixed emotions. Besides that, the author has also
SUMMARY ANALYSIS 3

used different mechanics that can easily impact the emotions of the readers. That is to say,

after reading through the article, most of the readers can easily be convinced that vegan is

also obligated to eat insects and that it minimizes the rate of harm caused to animals.

Additionally, the use of this tool is highly likely to cause mixed emotions to an individual,

since on one end the author has outlined the essence of consuming insects while on the other

hand, some rebels believe that insects are not meant to be consumed. Also, insects are

grouped as animals, and that vegan’s do not eat animals; thus, vegans are not expected to eat

insects.

On the other hand, ethos tool has also been implemented in the article through different

arguments. Typically, ethos tool seeks to examine the credibility of the person(s) projecting

the arguments. In this article, it can be said that the author can be a reliable source on the

topic of discussion since he is a popular scientist and researcher with quite a reasonable

number of experiences. Additionally, the information provided can also be considered

reliable since the author has also supported his arguments by acknowledging other popular

scientific researchers and philosophers such as Jeffrey Lockwood, Hans Smid, and Robert

Elwood. For instance, among the researchers mentioned above, none of them has been able to

justify the pain experienced by insects. The reason is that the insects can suffer through pain,

but still no evidence can prove the intensity of the pain compared to the pain experienced by

mammals. Jeffrey Lockwood, a certified entomologist, in his argument says that until to date,

there is no solid proof to justify the suffering of insect compared to that of the pain of

mammals.

Logos tool, on the contrary, it examines facts and statistics to help towards arriving at

logical conclusions and decisions. In this article, the author has implemented this tool in

different instances. The use of existing facts from other researchers has helped the author

arrive at logical conclusions. Most of the researchers concluded that the idea of insect
SUMMARY ANALYSIS 4

suffering is ultimately not plausible, which meant that there was no much harm associated

with the killing of insects compared to the killing of mammals. Although there are some

counterarguments which claim that insects possess the ability to suffer but still no hard

evidence that can prove the intensity of the suffering, also, the source of facts in the article

can be considered as accurate since most of the evidence provided rely on existing research

conducted by other scientists.

In summary, the arguments in the article seem to go against vegan identity. In most

occasions, it is a lot easier for a vegan to declare that they do not consume animal products or

rather eat animals to fulfil their needs. But as the act of eating insects keeps on gaining

popularity, the vegans maybe are pushed to the wall to come into terms with the fact that

consuming insects will be a better way of accomplishing the utmost goal of minimizing the

suffering of animals who we are aware can suffer.