By analogy with racism and sexism,
the term ''speciesism'' is a prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one's own species
and against those of members of other species.
lf a being suffers, there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration.
No matter what the nature of the being,
the principle of equality requires that one's suffering
can be counted equally with the like suffering of any other being.
Racists violate the principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interests of members of their own race,
when there's a clash between their interests and the interests of those of another race.
Sexists violate the principle of equality by favoring the interests of their own sex.
Similarly, speciesists allow the interests of their own species
to override the greater interests of members of other species.
ln each case, the pattern is identical.
Though among the members of the human family, we recognize the moral imperative of respect,
- every human is a somebody, not a something -
morally disrespectful treatment occurs when those who stand at the power end of a power relationship
treat the less powerful as if they were mere objects.
The rapist does this to the victim of rape.
The child molester to the child molested.
The master to the slave.
ln each and all such cases, humans who have power exploit those who lack it.
Might the same be true of how humans treat other animals or other earthlings?
Undoubtedly there are differences, since humans and animals are not the same in all respects.
But the question of sameness wears another face.
Granted, these animals do not have all the desires we humans have.
Granted, they do not comprehend everything we humans comprehend.
Nevertheless, we and they do have some of the same desires and do comprehend some of the same things.
The desires for food and water, shelter and companionship,
freedom of movement and avoidance of pain.
These desires are shared by non-human animals and human beings.
As for comprehension, like humans,
many non-human animals understand the world in which they live and move.
Otherwise, they could not survive.
So beneath the many differences, there is sameness.
Like us, these animals embody the mystery and wonder of consciousness.
Like us, they are not only in the world, they are aware of it.
Like us, they are the psychological centers of a life that is uniquely their own.
ln these fundamental respects, humans stand "on all fours" so to speak,
with hogs and cows, chickens and turkeys.
"What these animals are due from us? How we morally ought to treat them?"
Are questions whose answer begins with the recognition of our psychological kinship with them.
Nobel Prize winner lsaac Bashevis Singer wrote in his best-selling novel “Enemies, A Love Story”
the following:
The comparison here to the Holocaust is both intentional and obvious.
One group of living beings anguishes beneath the hands of another.
Though some will argue the suffering of animals cannot possibly compare with that of former jews or slaves,
there is, in fact, a parallel.
And for the prisoners and victims of this mass murder,
their holocaust is far from over.