What Is the Harkness Test? [Everything to Know]

The Harkness Test is a set of guidelines that would make it permissible to have intimate relations with a non-human creature, as long as the creature meets certain criteria.

The test is named after Jack Harkness, a character in Doctor Who and Torchwood who is attracted to both human and non-human characters in the show.

Let’s take a closer look at the Harkness Test and what it entails.

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Harkness Test Criteria

The criteria for the Harkness Test are as follows:

“Does this character have human intelligence (or greater)?”
“Can it talk or otherwise communicate with language?”, and
“Is it of maturity for its species?”

If the answer to all three questions is yes, then the creature passes the Harkness Test and it would be permissible to have a relationship with it.

The idea behind the test is that intelligent, communicative creatures are more likely to be able to consent, regardless of their species.

This is in contrast to animals, which cannot consent and are therefore off-limits.

The Harkness Test has been used as a thought experiment to explore issues of consent and morality when it comes to interspecies relationships.

The Harkness Test – Pokemon

For example, let’s apply the Harkness Test to some of the creatures from the popular anime Pokemon.

Pikachu is one of the most iconic creatures in the franchise and it is also one of the first creatures that comes to mind when thinking about Pokemon.

However, Pikachu fails the Harkness Test because it does not have human intelligence or greater.

Additionally, Pikachu cannot talk or communicate with language, so it fails the second criterion as well.

On the other hand, Meowth is a talking Pokemon who has been shown to be quite intelligent in the anime.

He would pass both the first and second criterion of the Harkness Test.

However, Meowth fails the third criterion because he is not of maturity for his species. As a result, he would not be a viable partner under the Harkness Test.

Do Pokemon pass the Harkness test?

So in terms of whether Pokemon pass the Harkness test, it really just depends on the creature.

The Harkness Test Explained

FAQs – The Harkness Test