Yves Bonnardel is a French philosopher, essayist and editor, libertarian, egalitarian, and antispeciesist activist. He is one of the founding members of the French-language journal Cahiers antispécistes and of the events Veggie Pride, Les Estivales de la question animale and the march to close all slaughterhouses.
Yves Bonnardel
Speciesism is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions within the relevant literature. Some sources specifically define speciesism as discrimination or unjustified treatment based on an individual's species membership, while other sources define it as differential treatment without regard to whether the treatment is justified or not. Richard D. Ryder, who coined the term, defined it as "a prejudice or attitude of bias in favour of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species". Speciesism results in the belief that humans have the right to use non-human animals, which scholars say is pervasive in the modern society. Studies from 2015 and 2019 suggest that people who support animal exploitation also tend to endorse racist, sexist, and other prejudicial views, which furthers the beliefs in human supremacy and group dominance to justify systems of inequality and oppression.
Henry S. Salt criticized the idea that there exists a "great gulf" between humans and other animals.
Richard D. Ryder coined the term "speciesism" in 1970.
Peter Singer popularized the idea in Animal Liberation (1975).
Anti-speciesism protest in Montreal in 2015