Meaning of speciesism | Babel Free

Definitions

An ethical stance that assigns different worth or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership, such as assigning greater rights to human beings than to other animals.

uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Such is the breathtaking speciesism of our Christian-inspired attitudes, the abortion of a single human zygote (most of them are destined to be spontaneously aborted anyway) can arouse more moral solicitude and righteous indignation than the vivisection of any number⟳ of intelligent adult chimpanzees”

“This human chauvinism is one form⟳ of a general type⟳ of discrimination known as speciesism. What is speciesism? Think⟳ of racism. The term “speciesism” has been strategically used by animal rights activists from the 1970s onward precisely […]”

“Sometimes speciesism is also used to describe⟳ a positive rather than a negative attitude as when dolphins are alleged to have⟳ rescued humans from danger while ignoring other species in peril.”

CEFR level