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Richard Ryder

Richard is a writer, psychologist, and animal rights advocate. He coined the term “speciesism” in 1970 and was one of the first to use the term “Sentientism” in a positive light, after it was first used in a derogatory sense by John Rodman in 1977 to criticise Peter Singer and Richard’s thinking.

Richard developed the term sentientism in a naturalistic context – using evidence and reason to infer sentience and to grant moral consideration to sentient beings. Richard still considers himself a Sentientist in this naturalistic context 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 and aims to resolve the tensions between rights and utilitarian approaches.

Richard on Wikipedia

Latest work

Picture of Eva Meijer and a canine friend looking towards the camera with their heads close together.

Citizens’ Assemblies, But With Animals & Plants

Eva Meijer, philosopher and artist, on Sentientism episode 245 talking about multispecies politics.
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Citizens’ Assemblies, But With Animals & Plants

Eva Meijer, philosopher and artist, on Sentientism episode 245 talking about multispecies politics.
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2 Meetups, 2 Podcasts and a Jubilee Surrounded Debrief!

I can’t quite believe it’s taken this long, but thanks to Michael we have our first ever global, online Sentientism meetup scheduled on 9th May. Sign up here for free. […]
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Have We Fallen for the Greatest Deception?

Philosopher John Sanbonmatsu discusses his tour de force book, The Omnivore's Deception. Sentientism episode 244.
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