Oscar Horta has argued that speciesism is wrong by definition. In his view, there can be no more substantive debate about the justification of speciesism than there can be about the legality of murder, for it stems from the definition of “speciesism” that speciesism is unjustified just as it stems from the definition of “murder” that murder is illegal. The present paper is a case against this conception. I distinguish two issues: one is descriptive (Is speciesism wrong by definition?) and the other normative (Should speciesism be wrong by definition?). Relying on philosophers’ use of the term, I first answer the descriptive question negatively: speciesism is a purely descriptive concept. Then, based on both its main functions in the philosophical and public debates and an analogy with racism, I answer the normative question negatively: speciesism should remain a purely descriptive concept. If I am correct, then speciesism neither is nor should be wrong by definition.

中文翻译：

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物种主义的定义是错误的吗？

奥斯卡·奥尔塔（Oscar Horta）认为，物种歧视的定义是错误的。在他看来，关于物种歧视的正当性，没有比谋杀合法性更实质性的辩论了，因为它源于“物种主义”的定义，物种主义是不合理的，就像它源于“谋杀”的定义一样。 “那次谋杀是非法的。本论文是反对这一概念的一个案例。我区分了两个问题：一个是描述性的（物种主义的定义是错误的吗？）另一个是规范的（物种主义应该是错误的吗？）。依靠哲学家对这个术语的使用，我首先否定地回答描述性问题：物种主义是一个纯粹的描述性概念。然后，基于它在哲学和公共辩论中的主要功能以及与种族主义的类比，我否定地回答规范性问题：物种主义应该仍然是一个纯粹的描述性概念。如果我是对的，那么根据定义，物种主义既不是也不应该是错误的。