Humanism Versus Sentientism

Finding the philosophy of humanism ‘human-centric’, Jamie Woodhouse proposes upgrading it to his redefined ‘Sentientist’ world view. In this essay, Leslie Allan mounts a comprehensive response to Woodhouse’s charge that humanism pays insufficient regard to non-human sentient creatures. He draws from the etymology of ‘humanism’, the legacy of humanist history, humanism’s philosophical commitments and the movement’s real-world strategic priorities to argue that Woodhouse’s wished-for upgrade to ‘Sentientism’ is, in fact, a downgrade.