What is Sentientism?

Sentientism is an ethical philosophy that, like Humanism, rejects the supernatural in favour of evidence and reason. Emphasis is placed on using reason, rationality and a factual understanding of our shared reality as the foundation of our beliefs. Sentientism embraces a naturalist worldview, which encompasses atheism (i.e, a lack of belief in any deity; a person who is not convinced of the existence of a god or gods; a rejection of supernatural claims due to insufficient evidence).

But, unlike Humanism, instead of arbitrarily constraining our moral concern to human beings alone, Sentientism grants moral consideration to all sentient life (i.e., conscious beings).

Sentience refers to a living organism’s consciousness; specifically, its ability to have a subjective experience of the world such that said organism (most notably a human or non-human animal) is objectively capable of suffering and flourishing.

Organisms and elements of the natural world that are incapable of experiencing suffering and flourishing might be significant in ways that don't warrant our direct moral consideration. For instance, mountains, trees and rivers are important, but only to the extent that same directly affects the experiences of sentient beings like us.

Some assert that plants are sentient too, yet the science doesn't support this claim at all and, as a result, plants do not warrant our direct moral consideration. The same goes for other living organisms for which sentience is unclear. It is because of this that Sentientism doesn't make provision for these grey-areas, since it draws a hard line at established sentience (i.e., it needs to be shown, at the very least, that an organism possesses significant markers of sentience). However, Sentientism leaves the door open and should anything (be it plants, AI or aliens) be found to have sentience, they should receive our direct moral consideration.

The need for a brain, universal presence of a central nervous system and the similarity of the neurons and brain structure across the taxa is important, but not an absolute necessity to achieve or confirm sentience. That being said, the presence of a brain, central nervous system, the desire and propensity to avoid pain and pursue pleasure, take steps to end any existing pain, the need and ability to form bonds, feel joy, develop lasting friendships, hold grudges, or be empathetic... all of these factors, especially taken together, are strong (sometimes conclusive) indicators of sentience.

Perhaps, if you are unsure, err on the side of caution. For instance, give invertebrates (such as insects) the benefit of the doubt enough to refrain from their exploitation or destruction when there is no good reason to engage in this behaviour.

Given the fact that we, at a minimum, know that the billions of cows, chickens, pigs, ducks, turkey, sheep, fish and other such non-human animals, whom we keep in captivity, exploit, torture and murder for our benefit and to their detriment, are sentient, it is clear that we are in the midst of a moral atrocity that demands our urgent and immediate attention.

For a deeper understanding of Sentientism, please visit https://sentientism.info.

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