Speciesism
The assumption of human superiority and the practice of giving different moral consideration to individuals based solely on their species membership, resulting in the privileging of human interests over those of other animals even when comparable interests are at stake. Speciesism functions as a system of oppression similar to racism or sexism, allowing for the institutional exploitation of beings deemed less morally significant based on arbitrary biological characteristics rather than morally relevant capacities like sentience.
Animal Liberation
The comprehensive transformation of human-animal relationships from exploitation to respect and reciprocity, including the elimination of institutional forms of animal use, the recognition of animal personhood, and the development of systems supporting animal autonomy and flourishing.
Multispecies Justice
A framework for fairness and rights that extends beyond humans to include appropriate consideration for all sentient beings, recognizing different needs and capacities while maintaining core principles of moral consideration for all.
Interspecies Communication
The exchange of information, preferences, and perspectives between humans and other animals through both natural capacities and technological facilitation, enabling meaningful connection while respecting cognitive differences.
Just Transition
The process of transforming exploitation-based systems while providing support, opportunities, and care for human communities whose livelihoods have depended on these systems, ensuring that animal liberation advances alongside human wellbeing rather than at its expense.
Habeas Corpus
(Latin for “you shall have the body”) is a fundamental legal principle that protects individuals from unlawful detention by requiring that a detained person be brought before a court to determine if their detention is lawful. Applying this principle to non-human animals represents a profound legal shift.
Post-Speciesism
A moral and perceptual framework that has evolved beyond the assumption of human superiority or exceptional moral status, instead recognizing moral significance based on sentience and capacity for subjective experience rather than species membership.
Multispecies Community
A form of association where multiple species cohabit, communicate, and cooperate within shared physical and social spaces, with systems and norms designed to support the wellbeing and agency of all participants.
Integrated Transformation
The coordinated evolution of technological, legal, cultural, economic, and psychological dimensions of society, recognizing that meaningful change in human-animal relationships requires addressing interconnected systems simultaneously.
Sentience
The capacity to have subjective experiences, including the ability to feel pleasure and pain, to have preferences, and to experience the world from a first-person perspective. Sentience is the fundamental basis for moral consideration in a multispecies ethical framework.
Animal Personhood
The recognition of animals as legal and moral persons rather than property, acknowledging their status as beings with inherent value, interests, and rights deserving of protection. Animal personhood does not imply identical rights to humans but appropriate rights based on species-specific needs and capacities.
Multispecies Governance
Systems of decision-making and policy implementation that incorporate the interests and, where possible, the direct input of multiple species, through various forms of representation, communication technology, and consideration of different needs.
Moral Circle Expansion
The historical process of extending moral consideration to previously excluded groups, from the expansion of human rights across racial, gender, and other boundaries to the ongoing extension of moral consideration to other sentient species.
Regenerative Multispecies Economics
Economic systems designed to create value through practices that enhance the wellbeing of all participating species and their shared environments, replacing extractive models with those based on mutual flourishing and ecological health.
Anthropocentrism
A worldview that places humans at the center of ethical consideration and sees the world primarily through a human-centered lens, often leading to the valuation of other species and natural systems only in terms of their utility to humans rather than their intrinsic worth.
Interspecies Ethics
The field of moral philosophy concerned with determining right conduct and just relationships between members of different species, particularly focusing on the responsibilities of humans toward other animals given power imbalances and different capacities.
Multispecies Flourishing
A state where humans and other animals experience wellbeing according to their species-specific needs and capacities, with systems designed to support the thriving of all rather than some at the expense of others.
Animal Sovereignty
The recognition and respect for animals’ ability to determine their own lives and social organizations with minimal human interference, particularly relevant for wild animals and their communities.
Cognitive Justice
The recognition of diverse ways of knowing, perceiving, and experiencing the world across species lines, valuing different forms of intelligence and consciousness without imposing human cognitive standards as the only legitimate forms.
Species Appropriate Autonomy
The degree and type of self-determination that is suitable for different species based on their specific needs, capacities, and forms of flourishing, recognizing that autonomy looks different across species but remains valuable for all.
Speciesist Language
Terminology and linguistic patterns that reinforce human supremacy and the objectification of other animals, such as using “it” rather than “he/she,” “owning” rather than “living with” animals, or using terms like “livestock” that frame animals as commodities.