Humans usually treat other individuals that they believe are lesser than themselves as objects (women, other races, non-human animals). This is speciesism. By analogy with racism and sexism, the term "speciesism" is a prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species. If a being suffers there can be no moral justif
ication for refusing to take that suffering into consideration. No matter what the nature of the being, the principle of equality requires that one's suffering can be counted equally with the like suffering of any other being. Racists violate the principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interests of members of their own race when their is a clash between their interests and the interests of those of another race. Sexists violate the principle of equality by favoring the interests of their own sex. Speciesists allow the interests of their own species to override the greater interests of members of other species. In each case, the pattern is identical. Though among the members of the human family we recognize the moral imperative of respect (every human is a somebody, not a something), morally disrespectful treatment occurs when those who stand at the power end of a power relationship treat the less powerful as if they were mere objects. The rapist does this to the victim of rape. The child molester to the child molested. The master to the slave. In each and all such cases, humans who have power exploit those who lack it. Might the same be true of how humans treat other animals, or other humans? There are differences, since humans and animals are not the same in all respects... but the question of sameness wears another face.
