"Rupert" > wrote
>
> Dutch wrote:

>> > That's discrimination on the basis of individual characteristics which
>> > are held to be morally relevant, not discrimination on the basis of
>> > species. It's not speciesism.
>>
>> Bullshit, it's not individual, it can't possibly be, you can't interview
>> every fly, snail, or cockroach. It is dismissal of entire species based
>> on
>> the knowledge that NONE of them can possibly possess capabilities beyond
>> a
>> particular rudimentary level. People who dismiss mosquitos as irrelevant
>> do
>> so using the exact same kind of speciesist logic as those who dismiss
>> chickens. We do so because we correctly ascertain that NO CHICKEN can
>> possibly exist beyond a certain level of "sentience".
>
> It is on the basis of individual characteristics, rather than on the
> basis of what is typical for their species or the characteristics the
> best representative of their species has.

Have you ever examined an individual of any of the above animal species to
determine what it's *individual capacities* are? Of course not, there is no
possible means or ability to do it to one, much less all. The only way, and
it is a very accurate one, is to determine the species and attribute the
characteristics generally of that species to each individual.