Speciesism

Speciesism is thinking that humans are better than animals, though humans are technically also animals. It is also treating animals worse than humans. For example, humans often kill animals to eat. Humans rarely kill and eat other humans. The word speciesism was first used in 1970 by Richard D. Ryder, an English philosopher, in a pamphlet called Speciesism. It was made popular by Peter Singer's 1975 book Animal Liberation. In the book the name of the fifth chapter was "Man's Dominion ... a short history of speciesism". The word 'speciesism' was first put in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1985.

Media

In 2013, a documentary movie about speciesism called Speciesism: The Movie was released. It was made by Mark Devries, wherein he compares factory farming to slavery and the Holocaust.

Speciesism Media

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  Portrait of Lewis Gompertz

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  Henry S. Salt criticized the idea that there exists a "great gulf" between humans and other animals.

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  Richard D. Ryder coined the term "speciesism" in 1970.

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  Peter Singer popularized the idea in Animal Liberation (1975).

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  Defenders of speciesism such as Carl Cohen argue that speciesism is essential for right conduct.

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  The Trial of Bill Burns (1838) in London showing Richard Martin (MP for Galway) in court with a donkey beaten by his owner, leading to Europe's first known conviction for animal cruelty

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  Richard Dawkins argues that speciesism is an example of the "discontinuous mind".