Answers to the AMA on World Day for an End to Speciesism

At Animal Ethics, we have an ongoing commitment to addressing speciesism in all its forms. On August 27, World Day for an End to Speciesism, Soudamini and Aditya from Animal Ethics responded to AMA questions on the subjects of speciesism, invertebrate sentience, and moral biases. We hope this will clarify some of the finer points of speciesism and related topics as well as providing food for thought and further discussion.

The AMA began with an overview of the various forms of speciesism. The AMA then covered the following topics

• How respect for animals fits into current ethical views
• How we can estimate sentience and which animals are likely to be sentient
• Reasons why we should use the precautionary principle when considering whether oysters or crickets are sentient
• Biases in our intuition when we think about moral issues
• The uncertainties about what consciousness is and when it arises
• Whether invertebrates exhibit the kind of behavioral flexibility that indicates consciousness
• Examples of flexible behavior in ants, honey bees, and octopuses
• The evolution of views about what constitutes discrimination
• Different forms of antispeciesist advocacy

For more information about the topics covered, see the following pages on our website.

Speciesism

What is speciesism?

Ethical theories and nonhuman animals

Animal exploitation

Animal ethics and environmental ethics

Sentience

What is sentience?

The argument from relevance

The problem of consciousness

Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness

Criteria for recognizing sentience

Invertebrate sentience: A review of the neuroscientific literature

An illustrated physiology of nervous systems in invertebrates

Cognitive biases

Moral intuitions and biases

Status quo bias

Motivated reasoning and confirmation bias

Availability heuristic

Animal advocacy

Working for a future with fewer harms to wild animals

What you can do

Download and use Animal Ethics’s leaflets and factsheets

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