Animalism (philosophy)


In the philosophical sub-discipline of ontology, animalism is a theory of personal identity according to which human persons are animals. The concept of animalism is advocated by philosophers Eric T. Olson, Paul Snowdon, Stephan Blatti, and David Wiggins. The view stands in contrast to positions such as Locke's psychological criterion for personal identity or various forms of Mind-body dualism, such as Richard Swinburne's account. Whilst the animalist is committed to something like the claim that human persons are essentially animals, the animalist is quite content to allow non-human persons - e.g. sufficiently advanced robots, aliens, or other animals.

Use of term in ethics

A less common, but perhaps increasing, use of the term 'animalism' is to refer to the ethical view that all or most animals are worthy of moral consideration. It is similar to sentientism.