You’ll find a number of articles about sentientism on this site and many more that relate to sentientism on our Sub-Reddit. The ones below have actually been published.
If you’re in publishing and would be interested in a piece about sentientism, or even re-publishing one of these, please get in touch using our contact form on the right of this page or via @Sentientism.
If you’re a writer (or even if you’re not) – why not write something about sentientism? We’d love to help and will happily share your work. Please get in touch.
Can Sentientism Save The World? Interview with Jamie Woodhouse
The Freethinker magazine describes itself as culturally liberal and political unaligned. Their masthead emphasises “Liberty, Reason and Humanity” although in this interview I try to nudge them towards “Sentientity” rather than humanity.
Humanism Needs an upgrade: The Philosophy that Could Save the World
There’s an updated version of this article here.
The Areo team also run the Two for Tea podcast. You can hear their episode on Sentientism here.
Areo was an opinion and analysis digital magazine focused on current affairs — in particular: humanism, reason, science, politics, culture and human rights. Areo, named after Milton’s speech in defence of freedom of speech, Areopagitica, published thoughtful essays from a variety of perspectives compatible with broadly liberal and humanist values. It places particular priority on evidence and reason-centered pieces.
A New Dimension for Humanism?
This article , co-authored with Amy Halpern-Laff, is targeted at a secular Humanist audience.
The Humanist is the online and magazine publication of the American Humanist Association. The AHA describes Humanism as “a nontheistic worldview with ethical values informed by scientific knowledge and driven by a desire to meet the needs of people in the here and now. At the foundation of those values is an affirmation of the dignity of every human being.”
Non-human sentient beings are not (yet) mentioned in their definition of Humanism. In that respect, the AHA is lagging behind both Humanists UK and Humanists International.
Humanism Needs An Upgrade: Is Sentientism The Philosophy That Could Save The World?
This is an updated version of the Areo piece above and is also adapted for a more clearly secular humanist audience. There’s also an updated version of this article here.
Free Inquiry is published by the Center for Inquiry, a non-profit which strives to foster a secular society based on reason, science, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values.
From Human Rights to Sentient Rights: The Next Generation of Rights Thinking
There is an updated version of this article here.
Sentient is a nonprofit media organization working to create transparency around animal rights and the planetary crisis created by global factory farming. They report on animal welfare issues and strive to highlight the many intersections among human and animal lives and the world in which we live. Their primary mission is to increase public awareness of key issues that matter to all of us: the welfare of sentient beings, the health of our planet, and the health and longevity of our human selves.
From Human rights to sentient rights: the next generation of rights thinking
This is a very similar piece to the Sentient one above. There are also versions in Arabic and Spanish. There is an updated version of this article here.
OpenGlobalRights believes that human rights work best when its many actors converse, learn, and innovate across geographic, linguistic, and disciplinary lines. OpenGlobalRights gathers those voices, providing a space where different ideas and experiences enrich our understanding of what human rights are and what they can be in the work of creating a more just and sustainable world.
Why Should We Care About the Environment?
An updated version of this article is here. The piece sets out different reasons we might care about the environment, considering anthropocentrism, sentiocentrism (and sentientism), biocentrism and ecoentrism.
Greeneralia is focused on environmental and existential risks. It is run by the Green Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom but is cross-party.
Sentientism, by Richard Ryder. This essay was published in “The Great Ape Project” in 1993. Richard coined the term speciesism in 1970. Richard still considers himself a sentientist today. He has also developed painism, a sub-set of the sentientist worldview that focuses on the moral importance of pain over that of positive experiences.
The term sentientism was developed in a naturalistic context – using evidence and reason to infer sentience and to accord moral consideration to sentients. More recently, it has been re-cast to include a wider naturalistic commitment – using evidence and reason in all domains.