Relative Sentience and Moral Weights

The Case for Quantifying Sentience in Animal Welfare (20 minutes)

This explainer introduces a sentience-centered approach to animal advocates' cause prioritization, arguing that our moral consideration should extend (only) to all sentient individuals. It explains how quantifying sentience & welfare helps with decision-making across species interventions, and offers examples of how this framework can guide animal advocacy efforts and identifies practical and emerging methods to assess animal wellbeing.

An Introduction to the Moral Weight Project - Rethink Priorities (15 mins)

• ONLY “Crucial Concepts: Capacity for Welfare and Welfare Ranges”

Scale is not the only factor to consider in prioritization-- some animals have a higher capacity to experience welfare (positive or negative) than others. This reading introduces a prioritization concept which adjusts for the relative sentience of a population.