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What is sentientism

Sentientism: Evidence, reason and compassion

Welcome! - thank you for visiting and, hopefully, for being curious about the Sentientism worldview: "Evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings."

Like many other worldviews, both religious and non-religious, Sentientism is a way of thinking about what's real and who matters.

When it comes to working out what to believe and how confidently to believe, Sentientism suggests we should use evidence and reasoning. That naturalistic approach is an alternative to holding faith-based, arbitrary or unchangeable, dogmatic beliefs.

As we think about "who matters?" Sentientism suggests we should have moral consideration and compassion for every sentient being - any being capable of experiencing, particularly experiencing suffering or flourishing. Roughly speaking, that means human and non-human animals, but other types of artificial or alien being might conceivably one day be sentient too. Having moral consideration for someone at the very least means we wouldn't needlessly exploit, harm or kill them.

"Evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings" might sound fairly obvious and these ideas have ancient, global and maybe even pre-human roots. However, given prevailing human social norms Sentientism has some radical implications and most people on the planet disagree with it - so far...

If you'd like to dig deeper, there's a quick guide below to what you'll find on the rest of this site. You might also be interested in our YouTube channel and our podcast, featuring conversations with amazing guests. You'll also be very welcome in any of our friendly, global online communities, spanning over 100 countries so far. They're open to anyone interested in these ideas - not just those who agree with Sentientism!


What is Sentientism? - Featuring our FAQ and some thoughts on why Sentientism is important. There's also a presentation below that helps tell the overall story.

Resources - Includes hundreds of searchable resources including published articles, updates on the Sentientism movement and shownotes for all of our YouTube and podcast episodes. Further articles include What might disappear in a sentientist world?, How does Sentientism compare to other ideas and movements and Is Humanism good enough?

In Action - This section has ideas about how we might be able to make the world more rational and compassionate, from Sentient Rights and Sentientist Development goals to Sentientist Politics and Economics.

Groups - Here you can find links to all of our global online and local groups as well as all the Sentientism social media accounts. Come join and follow us. The groups are open to everyone, sentientist or not!

We Are Sentientists! - Here's where you can meet some of the ever-growing number of Sentientists and even add yourself if the worldview fits! You might like to read some of the messages people are leaving on our "Wall of Sentientists". See if you can spot the "celebrities" who have joined our wall or are on our Suspected Celebrity Sentientists page.

Finally - If you think Sentientism is important and would like to help raise awareness of the worldview, I’ve written some ideas about how you could help here - most of the actions are very quick and easy.

Latest work

Sentientism logo. A capital letter S with a graded orange shading. Deepening to the right.

Top 10 Conversations - according to the algorithms anyway...

Our Top 10 Sentientist Conversations... according to the algorithms.
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Top 10 Conversations - according to the algorithms anyway...

Our Top 10 Sentientist Conversations... according to the algorithms.
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"A new world of animal justice" - Sabine Brels of World Animal Justice - Sentientism Ep:189

World Animal Justice aims for the global recognition of crimes against animality (or even sentientity). A Sentientist conversation.
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Should Ethical Schools Teach Sentientism?

Sentientist Education... what might education through all life stages look like if we apply "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings".
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