Ethodiversity, short for ethological diversity, refers to the intra- and inter-specific variabilities and differences in behavioural or existential styles in (human and nonhuman) animals. Ethodiversity encompasses biological (including traditional ethological) needs, behavioural patterns, existential orientations, affects, as well as inter- and intraspecific relationality.
The term ‘ethodiversity’ parallels ‘biodiversity’ and ‘neurodiversity’. As a phenomenon, I suggest it contains neurodiversity without being limited to it. Autism, ADHD, Tourette syndrome, Down syndrome, dyspraxia, etc., are certainly neurological to some degree, but they are also somatic and behavioural. This is what ethodiversity targets. But ethodiversity is larger than that: it learns from the diversity of animal behaviours.
Ethodiversity refers to the intra- and inter-specific variabilities and differences in animal behavioural patterns or existential styles. Ethodivergence describes ways of being and behaving that depart from the ones dominant in one’s species, in one’s ecological and social milieu, and/or imposed by anthropocentric ethonormativity. Both concepts are finally elaborated drawing on conservation biology and philosophical ethology.
I offer the concept of ethodiversity, short for ethological diversity, which refers to the intra- and inter-specific variabilities and differences in behavioural or existential styles in (human and nonhuman) animals. Ethodiversity encompasses biological (including traditional ethological) needs, behavioural patterns, existential orientations, affects, as well as inter- and intraspecific relationality. As such, it refuses to separate the innate from the acquired or the inside from the outside.
Moreover, different species exhibit distinct ways of being and behaving, and these differences also occur within species. Indeed, like neurodiversity, these differences can also be individual. As Singer explains, “no two [nervous systems] can ever be exactly alike due to the influence of environmental factors” (Singer, n.d.). But even in this sea of difference, categories emerge which help us make sense of our experiences and resist oppression. Autism, ADHD, Tourette syndrome, depression, Down syndrome, are examples of categories which encompass large spectra of differences while gathering individuals around shared traits.
