Sentience and society: Towards a more values‐informed approach to policy

Abstract

In The edge of sentience , Jonathan Birch proposes a democratically inclusive framework for protecting potentially sentient beings. While experts assess and communicate evidence of sentience, the public deliberates on proportionate policy responses to avoid causing gratuitous suffering. While we think there are many virtues to Birch's analysis and approach, in this commentary, we raise the concern that the proposed framework fails to sufficiently account for the presence of non‐epistemic values in science. We discuss strategies from the values in science literature for evaluating and managing these values in a democratic and inclusive way.