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Sentiocentrism
Sentientism (or sentiocentrism) is an ethical view that places sentient individuals at the center of moral concern. It holds that both humans and other sentient individuals have interests that must be considered. Gradualist sentientism attributes moral consideration relatively to the degree of sentience. Sentientists consider that arbitrarily giving different moral weight to sentient beings based solely on their species membership is a form of unjustified discrimination known as speciesism. Many self-described humanists see themselves as "sentientists" where the term ''humanism'' contrasts with ''theism'' and does not describe the sole focus of humanist concerns. Sentientism stands in opposition to the philosophy of anthropocentrism. Origin The term sentientism was used by John Rodman in 1977 who referred to Peter Singer's philosophy as "a kind of zoöcentric sentientism". Andrew Linzey defined the term in 1980 to denote an attitude that arbitrarily favours sentients over non- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speciesism
Speciesism () is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions. Some specifically define speciesism as discrimination or unjustified treatment based on an individual's species membership, while others define it as differential treatment without regard to whether the treatment is justified or not. Richard D. Ryder, who coined the term, defined it as "a prejudice or attitude of bias in favour of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species". Speciesism results in the belief that humans have the right to use non-human animals in exploitative ways which is pervasive in the modern society. Studies from 2015 and 2019 suggest that people who support animal exploitation also tend to have intersectional bias that encapsulates and endorses racist, sexist, and other prejudicial views, which furthers the beliefs in human supremacy and group dominance to justify sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism ( ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity on the planet. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. From an anthropocentric perspective, humankind is seen as separate from nature and superior to it, and other entities (animals, plants, minerals, etc.) are viewed as resources for humans to use. It is possible to distinguish between at least three types of anthropocentrism: perceptual anthropocentrism (which "characterizes paradigms informed by sense-data from human sensory organs"); descriptive anthropocentrism (which "characterizes paradigms that begin from, center upon, or are ordered around ''Homo sapiens'' / ‘the human'"); and normative anthropocentrism (which "characterizes paradigms that make assumptions or assertions about the superiority of ''Homo sapiens'', its capacities, the primacy of its values, rits position in the universe" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Speciesism
Speciesism () is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions. Some specifically define speciesism as discrimination or unjustified treatment based on an individual's species membership, while others define it as differential treatment without regard to whether the treatment is justified or not. Richard D. Ryder, who coined the term, defined it as "a prejudice or attitude of bias in favour of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species". Speciesism results in the belief that humans have the right to use non-human animals in exploitative ways which is pervasive in the modern society. Studies from 2015 and 2019 suggest that people who support animal exploitation also tend to have intersectional bias that encapsulates and endorses racist, sexist, and other prejudicial views, which furthers the beliefs in human supremacy and group dominance to justify sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biocentrism (ethics)
Biocentrism (from Greek βίος ''bios'', "life" and κέντρον ''kentron'', "center"), in a political and ecological sense, as well as literally, is an ethical point of view that extends equal inherent value to all living things. It is an understanding of how the earth works, particularly as it relates to its biosphere or biodiversity. It stands in contrast to anthropocentrism, which centers on the value of humans. The related ecocentrism extends inherent value to the whole of nature. Advocates of biocentrism often promote the preservation of biodiversity, animal rights, and environmental protection. The term has also been employed by advocates of " left biocentrism", which combines deep ecology with an " anti-industrial and anti-capitalist" position (according to David Orton ''et al.''). Definition In the simplest of terms as well as form, biocentrism is the belief that all living organisms, without exception, individually possess equal value and the same exact rig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sentience
Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness, reasoning, or complex thought processes. Some writers define sentience exclusively as the capacity for ''valenced'' (positive or negative) mental experiences, such as pain or pleasure. Sentience is an important concept in ethics, as the ability to experience happiness or suffering often forms a basis for determining which entities deserve Moral patienthood, moral consideration, particularly in utilitarianism. In Asian religions, the word "sentience" has been used to translate a variety of concepts. In science fiction, "sentience" is sometimes used interchangeably with "sapience", "self-awareness", or "consciousness". Sentience in philosophy "Sentience" was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin '':wikt:sentiens, sentiens'' (feeling). In philosophy, different authors draw differen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Normative Ethics
Normative ethics is the study of ethics, ethical behaviour and is the branch of Philosophy, philosophical ethics that investigates questions regarding how one ought to act, in a Morality, moral sense. Normative ethics is distinct from metaethics in that normative ethics examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions, whereas meta-ethics studies the meaning of moral language and the metaphysics of moral facts. Likewise, normative ethics is distinct from applied ethics in that normative ethics is more concerned with "who ought one be" rather than the ethics of a specific issue (e.g. if, or when, abortion is acceptable). Normative ethics is also distinct from descriptive ethics, as descriptive ethics is an Empirical evidence, empirical investigation of people's moral beliefs. In this context normative ethics is sometimes called ''prescriptive'' (as opposed to ''descriptive'') ethics. However, on certain versions of the view of moral realism, moral facts are both descript ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the same consideration as similar interests of human beings. The argument from marginal cases is often used to reach this conclusion. This argument holds that if marginal human beings such as infants, senile people, and the Cognition, cognitively disabled are granted moral status and negative rights, then nonhuman animals must be granted the same moral consideration, since animals do not lack any known morally relevant characteristic that marginal-case humans have. Broadly speaking, and particularly in popular discourse, the term "animal rights" is often used synonymously with "animal protection" or "animal liberation". More narrowly, "animal rights" refers to the idea that many animals have fundamen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Ethics
Animal ethics is a branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated. The subject matter includes animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, animal cognition, wildlife conservation, wild animal suffering, the moral status of nonhuman animals, the concept of nonhuman personhood, human exceptionalism, the history of animal use, and theories of justice. Several different theoretical approaches have been proposed to examine this field, in accordance with the different theories currently defended in moral and political philosophy. There is no theory which is completely accepted due to the differing understandings of what is meant by the term ''ethics''; however, there are theories that are more widely accepted by society such as animal rights and utilitarianism. History The history of the regulation of animal research was a fundamental step towards the development of animal ethic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Animal Suffering
Wild animal suffering is suffering experienced by non-human animals living in the wild, outside of direct human control, due to natural processes. Its sources include disease, injury, parasitism, starvation, malnutrition, dehydration, weather conditions, natural disasters, killings by other animals, and psychological stress. An extensive amount of natural suffering has been described as an unavoidable consequence of Darwinian evolution, as well as the pervasiveness of reproductive strategies, which favor producing large numbers of offspring, with a low amount of parental care and of which only a small number survive to adulthood, the rest dying in painful ways, has led some to argue that suffering dominates happiness in nature. Some estimates suggest that the total population of wild animals, excluding nematodes but including arthropods, may be vastly greater than the number of animals killed by humans each year. This figure is estimated to be between 10¹⁸ and 10²¹ indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a vegan. The foundations of veganism include ethical, moral, environmental, health and humanitarian arguments. Strict veganism excludes all forms of #Animal use, animal use, whether in agriculture for labour or food (e.g., meat, fish and other animal seafood, eggs, dairy products such as milk or cheese, and honey), in clothing and industry (e.g., leather, wool, fur, and some cosmetics), in entertainment (e.g., zoos, exotic pets, and circuses), or in services (e.g., guide dogs, police dogs, hunting dogs, working animals, and animal testing, including medical experimentation and the use of pharmaceuticals derived from or tested on animals). A person who practices veganism may do so for personal health benefits or to reduce animal deaths, minimize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moral Circle Expansion
Moral circle expansion is an increase over time in the number and type of entities given moral consideration. The general idea of moral inclusion was discussed by ancient philosophers and since the 19th century has inspired social movements related to human rights and animal rights. Especially in relation to animal rights, the philosopher Peter Singer has written about the subject since the 1970s, and since 2017 so has the think tank Sentience Institute, part of the 21st-century effective altruism movement. There is significant debate on whether humanity actually has an expanding moral circle, considering topics such as the lack of a uniform border of growing moral consideration and the disconnect between people's moral attitudes and their behavior. Research into the phenomenon is ongoing. History Early discussions of the moral circle The moral circle was discussed as early as the 2nd century by Stoic philosopher Hierocles, who described in ''On Appropriate Acts'' the conc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethics Of Uncertain Sentience
The ethics of uncertain sentience is an area of applied ethics concerned with how to treat individuals whose capacity for sentience—the ability to subjectively feel, perceive, or experience—remains scientifically or philosophically uncertain. The topic is particularly significant in animal ethics, where questions have arisen regarding the moral status of animals such as crustaceans, insects, and fish, and whether they can experience pain. It also applies to debates in neuroethics and the ethics of artificial intelligence. A common approach to these issues involves invoking the precautionary principle, which holds that in cases of uncertainty, it is morally preferable to assume sentience rather than risk causing harm to potentially sentient beings. Views Animal ethics David Foster Wallace in his 2005 essay " Consider the Lobster" investigated the potential sentience and capacity of crustaceans to experience pain and the resulting ethical implications of eating them. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
