If only all politics were sentience-centered politics... Sentience Politics (Sentience) is a project aiming to do politics for all sentient beings. “Sentience” means the ability to have conscious experiences or feelings – especially feelings of pain and pleasure, suffering and happiness. This ability is characteristic of both humans and many non-human animals alike. It is the most basic reason why we benefit from legal rights, and are harmed in their absence. Unlike as with, for example, higher cognitive abilities which some humans lack and which therefore don’t justify basic rights, sentience also unites all humans. Sentience is therefore politically crucial. Sentience Politics’ main goal is changing decision-architectures and structures that are causing comparatively huge amounts of unnecessary suffering. Because of its annual confinement and killing of more than 50 billion land animals ( = 1 billion weekly), the livestock industry may be the biggest easily removable source of suffering on our planet. Additionally, it contributes to global instability by being among the very top causes of climate change, and is connected to world hunger and public health issues. Rational, i.e. maximally goal-tracking politics prioritizes interventions that result in positive consequences for as many areas as possible (ultimately: sentient beings), and it tends to favor interventions that are comparatively neglected (due to diminishing marginal utility of activist resources). We are currently running political initiatives for more veg options in public canteens in Switzerland’s direct democracy and aim to promote the public discourse on animal rights, ecological resource efficency and rational politics in the process. Another focus consists in promoting effective donation whose ethical relevance is systematically underrated.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 03:03:49 +0000
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