Sentientism and the Welfare Level View

Abstract Sentientism is the view that all and only sentient individuals have moral status. In this article, I challenge two versions of Sentientism: (1) the view that sentience confers moral status because phenomenal consciousness is valuable to the one who has it, and (2) the view that sentience confers moral status because sentience confers the capacity for welfare. Instead, I defend Welfare Level Sentientism, the view that sentience confers moral status because sentience confers a level of welfare.