Why Similarity Doesn't Mean Equality

In David Schmidtz’s article “Are All Species Equal?” he discusses species egalitarianism and if it has any application or standing in the philosophical discussion of environmental ethics. One of the given arguments equates speciesism to racism. These two terms, down to their basic definitions, are so fundamentally different that it is difficult to compare them. Racism is the discrimination of a race of people based on the culture, physical features and tone of speech among other things. The parameters in which racism occurs and what determines superiority of one group of people over another is challenging to translate over into the realm of speciesism. For how are we to determine which traits are superior? In the Jim Crow era white heritage was hailed to be purer then African heritage, so in this racist instance we are comparing the same trait. Applying this to animals and plants is rather difficult. There is no black and white commonality between species. Comparing one species to another using any single trait has the possibility of alienating more animals and plants then it does uniting them in equality. One could argue that cognitive thinking is the standard in which we would base any sort of hierarchy. However, this places humans at the top and since we were the ones who set up the parameters initially it’s a bit farfetched. So by what basis do we judge other species? Sticking with outside appearances a thick fur coat could be an appropriate standard. Bears and huskies would be superior, but this alienates birds, reptiles and humans. If we digress to physical skill: if it is speed the peregrine falcon comes as the dominant species. When you get down to it, one of the real difficulties is comparing species against one another. ...

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... life. What we are able to do is treat all species with respect and do what we can so that they can thrive in a world that we have altered. We can preserve a species without alienating another. Preserving the Australian fauna at the cost of some feral dogs is the choice we have to make for the good of the biological make up of that region. Dogs themselves won’t go extinct and we’ve also eliminated a threat to other species including ourselves. Species egalitarianism is an easily outmoded form of communicating treatment of species because of all the questions and speculation it ultimately raises. The equivocation of animals is absurd. We can’t compare them because of all their fundamental differences and to do so is insulting to all species that fall below the parameters we instill. Ultimately there is no possible situation in which species egalitarianism is correct.