sentients
Creatures that feel
Sentients is the plural of sentient used as a noun—beings capable of feeling and perceiving.
The term appears primarily in science fiction and philosophy when discussing consciousness across species or artificial minds: The space station welcomed sentients of all origins.
It emphasizes the capacity for subjective experience rather than intelligence or humanity.
Homo sapiens members
- animalsMulticellular mobile organisms
- extraterrestrialsBeings from other worlds
- aliensBeings from other worlds
- androidsHuman-shaped artificial beings
AI · robots · dolphins · elephants · great apes · cetaceans · cephalopods · corvids
State of perceiving reality
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
- sapienceProfound intellectual discernment
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
- mindSeat of consciousness
thought · intelligence · self-awareness · qualia · inner life · subjective experience · wakefulness · alertness
Justified claims to freedoms
- personhoodStatus as a person
- dignityInnate personal worth
- welfareComfort and prosperity
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
interests · autonomy · consent · exploitation · liberation · advocacy · speciesism · bioethics
Simultaneous presence together
- communityCollective of connected people
- civilizationAdvanced organized human society
- communicationExchanging ideas or information
- cooperationJoint action toward shared aims
culture · governance · rights · citizenship · integration · diversity · interspecies · federation
Philosophy of opposed pairs
- physicalismAll is matter
- functionalismTheory emphasizing purposes and roles
- zombiesReanimated dead people
- mind-bodyMental-physical relationship
Chalmers · souls · substrate · emergence · quale · intentionality · phenomenology · existentialism
humans
Homo sapiens members
- animalsMulticellular mobile organisms
- extraterrestrialsBeings from other worlds
- aliensBeings from other worlds
androids · AI · robots · dolphins · elephants · great apes · cetaceans · cephalopods · corvids · lifeforms
awareness
State of perceiving reality
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
- sapienceProfound intellectual discernment
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
mind · thought · intelligence · self-awareness · qualia · inner life · subjective experience · wakefulness · alertness · responsiveness
rights
Justified claims to freedoms
- personhoodStatus as a person
- dignityInnate personal worth
- welfareComfort and prosperity
suffering · interests · autonomy · consent · exploitation · liberation · advocacy · speciesism · bioethics · animal rights
coexistence
Simultaneous presence together
- communityCollective of connected people
- civilizationAdvanced organized human society
- communicationExchanging ideas or information
cooperation · culture · governance · rights · citizenship · integration · diversity · interspecies · federation · collective
dualism
Philosophy of opposed pairs
- physicalismAll is matter
- functionalismTheory emphasizing purposes and roles
- zombiesReanimated dead people
Chalmers · mind-body · souls · substrate · emergence · quale · intentionality · phenomenology · existentialism · ontology
- intelligent beingshumans, people, persons, Homo sapiens, intelligent life
- sentient beingThing with awareness
- sentient machinesTechnology with awareness
- sentient AISoftware with subjective experience
- sentient androidThinking humanoid machine