Discordant notes. Comments on anthropocentrism and speciesism in animal ethics.

The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate the need for a clarification of the concept of speciesism and of its connections with anthropocentrism. I argue that ontological, epistemological, and ethical anthropocentrism are related, but still independent from each other. I also show how speciesism is only a kind of ethical anthropocentrism. I claim that in order to move towards a coherent and effective animal ethic we need to reassess the problem in terms of non-anthropocentric ethic.