Sentientism is a worldview that commits to using evidence and reason and extends moral consideration to all sentient beings. What I want to do in the article below is to compare Sentientism with some related philosophies and movements.  Hopefully that will help clarify what Sentientism is and why I think it’s valuable and distinctive.

The following graphics try to summarise where Sentientism has come from philosophically and how it relates to some of these other worldviews.

Atheism 

Atheism in its broadest sense is the absence of a belief in deities but is often described more formally as the belief that there are no deities.

In contrast, Sentientism doesn’t tell us what to believe (ontology) but instead insists how we should go about working it out (epistemology). Sentientism uses “evidence and reason” instead of alternatives like faith (fideism), unquestioned revelation, unquestioned authority or dogmas. That approach leads very many people to atheism or a form of agnosticism that sees the existence of deities as being very unlikely.

Sentientism applies reason and evidence in all domains – not just when it comes to theism and atheism. Very many atheists have poorly founded beliefs in a wide range of domains.

Atheism also says little about morality – except implying that our morality shouldn’t be based on a belief in deities. Atheists may or may not grant moral consideration to various sentient beings – human or otherwise. Sentientism explicitly grants moral consideration to all sentient beings. 

Humanism 

Modern Humanism commits to the application of evidence, reason and the scientific method.  It extends moral concern to all humans – regardless of their characteristics.  Humanism focuses on the agency of humans to define meaning and happiness and to work to alleviate suffering and enable flourishing. 

Humanism has a strong overlap with Sentientism. Some even see Sentientism as an upgrade or extension of humanism – while others prefer to avoid the association. Rather than focusing on the boundary of the human species, sentientism grants moral consideration because of sentience, the ability to experience.  Humans are sentient, but so are most non-human animals. We may also create or encounter other sentient beings – whether artificial or even alien intelligences. 

Humanism does not restrict moral consideration to humans and many humanists do grant moral consideration to non-human sentient beings. They are already sentientists whether they know it or not. Some Humanist organisations are starting to add “a concern for other sentient beings” into their own definitions of humanism. However, for many, the very term humanism implies a species-specific morality. So far, Humanist organisations focus their programmes almost entirely on the human species, many humanists are still not yet vegan (implying they do not grant even a base level of moral consideration to farmed animals) and some humanists even use their interpretation of humanism as human supremacy to justify the exploitation of non-human animals.  I’ve written more about this here.  

Secularism 

Secularism centres on maintaining an independence from religion or religious considerations. Secularist approaches include enabling freedom of and from religion and the separation of religion from the mechanisms of government. In the political context, many religious people are secularists – in that they hold personal religious views but believe these should not be privileged. 

Secularism is compatible with sentientism – but sentientism differs in explicitly rejecting beliefs not founded in evidence or reason, not just proposing to be independent from them.  As with humanism, secularism also focuses strongly on the human species whereas sentientism extends consideration to all sentient beings. 

Brights

The Brights is an intellectual movement that adopts a naturalistic worldview and works towards civic equality for those who hold a naturalistic worldview.  The naturalistic worldview goes further than atheism in that it rejects any supernatural or mystical beliefs.  All Brights are atheists, but not all atheists are Brights.  The Brights’ focus on civic equality ties closely to secularism. 

Sentientism’s commitment to evidence and reason matches the naturalistic worldview.  Sentientists – given their granting of equal moral consideration for all humans – also want civic equality for all. 

As with humanism, the Brights movement has tended to focus on the human species.  Their morality project has collated insights about morality in non-human animals – but mainly to explain the naturalistic basis for morality among humans. Sentientism goes further and extends moral consideration to those non-human animals as well as any other sentient beings. 

Veganism 

Veganism is a philosophy and way of living that aims to avoid causing, as far as possible and practicable, the exploitation of or cruelty to animals for any purpose. Given’ Sentientism’s “compassion for all sentient beings” and insistence on at least not needlessly exploiting, harming or killing (non-maleficence), veganism is a practical implication of Sentientism. At the same time, there are some differences.

Sentientism differs from the formal definition of veganism in using sentience, rather than the animal kingdom classification, as its basis for moral consideration. This means sentientists might not grant moral consideration to any animals conclusively found not to be sentient (sea sponges?), but would grant moral consideration to sentient beings that aren’t animals such as artificial or alien intelligences. Having said that, many vegans, including some of the founders of veganism, are actually motivated by animal sentience rather than any biological classification. The term “animal” might then be seen more as a convenient public short-hand for “sentient being”.

In practical terms, it is interesting to debate the fuzzy boundaries of animal sentience.  However, these edge-case debates shouldn’t distract from the core-case… the well-evidenced sentience of farmed animals and fishes.  

Veganism is also open about the basis for its moral consideration for animals.  Many vegans hold supernatural or religious views based on faith, revelation or dogmas, whereas sentientists have moral consideration for non-human animals within a naturalistic worldview grounded in evidence and reasoning. 

Some sentientists may claim to grant moral consideration to sentient non-human animals while still needlessly consuming products made from them – but to me this is an instance of cognitive dissonance or akrasia rather than a coherent moral position.

Some criticise veganism for being silent with respect to discrimation against humans. Others say that veganism should only focus on non-human animals given the egregious harms done to them by humans. Still others insist that, as humans are animals and because different types of oppression are related, veganism does and needs to address discrimination between groups of humans. Sentientism explicitly rejects any form of harmful discrimination – both between humans and across species and even across substrates.

Finally, veganism focuses primarily on avoiding and excluding human-caused harm or exploitation. It leaves open the question of whether we should also be benevolent – to help and assist where sentient beings are at risk of non-human-caused harms or where their lives could be improved. Sentientism specifies a broader moral consideration or “compassion for all sentient beings” which insists on non-maleficence (not needlessly causing harm) as a minimum but also implies we should look to be benevolent. Of course, very many vegans share this wider moral stance too even though it may go beyond the formal definition of veganism.

Painism 

Painism grants moral standing to any being that can experience pain.  That extends to humans, non-human animals and also potential alien or “artificial” beings.  Pain is defined broadly, to include any form of negative experience, whether physical pain, fear, injustice or boredom. 

Painism has a strong overlap with sentientism.  Both extend their moral consideration beyond humans and non-human animals based on an ability to experience. 

However, whereas painism only recognises negative experience, sentientism also acknowledges the moral validity of positive experiences. 

Painism is also silent on any commitment to evidence and reason – where sentientism is explicit about evidence and reason being the basis for extending moral consideration to sentient beings. 

Painism is also more specific about trying to find a balance between utilitarianism (adding up costs and benefits – which can lead to causing pain to some) and rights theory (granting rights that sometimes clash).  Sentientism is open to any combination of those approaches – as long as moral consideration is granted to all sentient beings. 

Anti-speciesism 

Speciesism involves assigning different rights or consideration to individuals based on their species.  Anti-speciesism argues that it is wrong to grant different consideration purely on species membership and that species membership in itself is morally irrelevant.  Some, but by no means all, anti-speciesists claim that all beings (presumably only animals) should be accorded equal moral consideration and deserve equal treatment and outcomes. 

Sentientism agrees that species membership shouldn’t be the prime driver of moral consideration, but instead argues that sentience should be.  While some sentientists think all sentient beings warrant equal moral consideration, others see evidence that there may be different degrees and types of sentience between species – implying that it might make sense to grant differing degrees of moral consideration based on that level of sentience.  All sentientists agree, however, that every sentient being warrants at least a meaningful level of moral consideration that means we should avoid causing them harm or death.

Anti-speciesism is also silent about evidence and reason.  Many anti-speciesists hold supernatural beliefs.  Sentientists do not. 

Animalism 

Animalism in its simplest terms is the philosophical position that humans are animals.  It has also been developed, as in this article, as an extension of humanism to all sentient animals. 

In the latter context it shares sentientism’s commitment to evidence and reason.  Animalism also acknowledges sentience as the reason for granting compassion to non-human animals. 

Where sentientism differs is in being more explicit about sentience being the prime driver of moral consideration.  That makes sentientism more open to other potential types of sentient being such as artificial or alien intelligences. 

Sentiocentrism

Sentiocentrism is the philosophy that sentient individuals, primarily humans and most animals, are the centre of moral concern. It contrasts with anthropocentrism (humans are what matters), biocentrism (all living things matter) and ecocentrism (all nature matters).

Sentiocentrism has much in common with sentientism in that it uses sentience as the arbiter of moral consideration.

Where sentientism differs is in its explicit commitment to applying evidence and reason in all domains. In that context, a sentiocentric worldview could be motivated by supernatural beliefs, whereas a sentientist worldview is explicitly naturalistic.

Conclusion 

Each of these philosophies and movements has much to commend it and they have a great deal in common.  To my mind, sentientism represents a powerful integration of their strongest elements and addresses each of their weaknesses.  Sentientism’s explicit focus on evidence and reason ensures a sound foundation in reality rather than in unchallengeable faith and dogma.  Using sentience rather than species labels helps concentrate on the characteristic that really matters – helping us limit, vary and extend our compassion appropriately.

I’d love to know what you think. Please comment below, via @Sentientism on Twitter or in one of our friendly community groups.