Element Descriptor
Turns out we’re not the only species on this planet. Who knew? Speciesism is the radical idea that other species should be thought of not just as extensions of our own desires and so much protein for us to do with as we please.
Level descriptors
| Novice | Practitioner | Expert | Ninja |
|---|---|---|---|
| you have come across the term ‘speciesism’ and can explain the concept in a few sentences to a wider group but you may struggle to answer follow-up questions and counter-arguments | with some time for preparation, you are able to effectively tackle counter-attacks by people who are outraged at the concept of acknowledging that humans have dominated & continue to dominate other non-human species. | in addition to the practitioner skills, you are familiar with speciesism and other concepts regarding animal ethics. you can engage in lengthy discussions and debates on speciesism, and answer almost any question or counter-argument | You are like an expert, but meat-purveyors refuse to debate you because you always cause a serious dip in their profits. That’s their, um, “beef” with you… |
Element Overview Essay
This is a draft. If something doesn’t make sense, or you see typos, or if you have further ideas, please email us on contact@activecitizenshiptoolkit.net
The reason people don’t understand speciesism if they’ve never been introduced to the concept or if they have, they’ve had the standard emotional response. But that’s ridiculous. Humans are the smartest species as having questionable intelligence is a moral category. Or that the complexity of a brain or opposable thumbs or an explicit language means that no other animal counts at all.
The consequences are that we continue to live in not just exploitative relationships with other species. But actually ecocidal and suicidal relationships with other species, we are at war with nature. And we cannot win.
The solutions are for us to all learn more about speciesism what it is the limits of the analysis and the compromises that we can make around at the very least vegetarianism, but really veganism, etc.
Development Resources
Assessment Resources
