Philosophies & Movements
Sentientism
A worldview that combines evidence and reason with moral consideration for every sentient being — any being able to have experiences, including animals and, potentially, AI systems. In AI debates it comes up when people ask whether a machine could ever deserve moral concern.
See also: AI welfare advocates
Origin · no single documented coiner
The word appeared in animal-ethics writing from the 1970s onward, including work by Richard D. Ryder, so it has no single documented coiner. Its current use as the name of a named worldview is promoted by Jamie Woodhouse through the Sentientism project, founded in 2019.