Speciesism (/ˈspiːʃiːˌzɪzəm,-siːˌzɪz-/) is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions.[1] Some specifically define speciesism as discrimination or unjustified treatment based on an individual's species membership,[2][3][4] while others define it as differential treatment without regard to whether the treatment is justified or not.[5][6]Richard D. Ryder, who coined the term, defined it as "a prejudice or attitude of bias in favour of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species".[7] Speciesism results in the belief that humans have the right to use non-human animals in exploitative ways which is pervasive in the modern society.[8][9][10] Studies from 2015 and 2019 suggest that people who support animal exploitation also tend to have intersectional bias that encapsulates and endorses racist, sexist, and other prejudicial views, which furthers the beliefs in human supremacy and group dominance to justify systems of inequality and oppression.[11][12]
^Horta, Oscar (1 June 2010). "What Is Speciesism?". Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 23 (3): 243–266. Bibcode:2010JAEE...23..243H. doi:10.1007/s10806-009-9205-2. ISSN1573-322X. [S]peciesism is the unjustified disadvantageous consideration or treatment of those who are not classified as belonging to one or more particular species.
^Dinker, Karin Gunnarsson; Pedersen, Helena (2016). "Critical Animal Pedagogies: Re-learning Our Relations with Animal Others". In Helen E. Lees; Nel Noddings (eds.). The Palgrave International Handbook of Alternative Education (1 ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 415–430. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-41291-1_27. ISBN978-1-137-41290-4. Speciesism is the name given to the presumption of human superiority over other animals and their subjection to oppression based on this belief.
^Hopster, Jeroen (1 December 2019). "The Speciesism Debate: Intuition, Method, and Empirical Advances". Animals. 9 (12): 1054. doi:10.3390/ani9121054. ISSN2076-2615. PMC6940905. PMID31805715. Some authors treat speciesism as an unjustified position by definition. This is problematic, however, since the defensibility of speciesism is subject to substantive debate. A more fruitful approach is to distinguish the descriptive concept of speciesism from its normative evaluation. Here, and in what follows, I will adopt Singer's definition, according to which speciesism involves the preferential consideration of the interests of members of one's own species.
^Hopster, Jeroen (1 December 2019). "The Speciesism Debate: Intuition, Method, and Empirical Advances". Animals. 9 (12): 1054. doi:10.3390/ani9121054. ISSN2076-2615. PMC6940905. PMID31805715. There are various definitions of speciesism in circulation in the academic literature and beyond. Some authors treat speciesism as an unjustified position by definition. This is problematic, however, since the defensibility of speciesism is subject to substantive debate. A more fruitful approach is to distinguish the descriptive concept of speciesism from its normative evaluation. Here, and in what follows, I will adopt Singer's definition, according to which speciesism involves the preferential consideration of the interests of members of one's own species.
^Gruen, Lori (2017), "The Moral Status of Animals", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 6 March 2021
^Jaworska, Agnieszka; Tannenbaum, Julie (2021), "The Grounds of Moral Status", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2021 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 6 March 2021