Post on 07-Apr-2018
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Human & AnimalConsciousness:A Brief Reflection
on our Differences
Prepared by Noelle Leslie dela Cruz, Ph.D.
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Key points for discussion
Why talk about animal minds?
Two kinds of consciousness:
1. Phenomenal consciousness (or sentience)2. Self-consciousness or higher-order
thought
Should self-consciousness be aprerequisite for moral rights?
Conclusion: On the ethical treatment ofnon-human animals
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Why talk about animalminds?The traditional assumption is that
animals are meant to be used for humanends
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Why talk about animalminds? And God said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth,and subdue it: and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl ofthe air, and over every living thing thatmoveth upon the earth.--Genesis 1:28
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Why talk about animalminds? Our species uses other animals for food,
clothing, medicine, sport, transportation,labor, protection, and companionship
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Why talk about animalminds? Some human products--pain-killers,
contraceptives, shampoos, andcolognes--are tested on animals
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Why talk about animalminds? Most of us have been to zoos where
animals are confined and exhibited forour entertainment
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The evolution of the
brain from fish tohumanIn identifying the salientdifferences between
human and animal minds,philosophers havepointed to mental
features such as egoformation, higher-orderthought, and languageabilities, among others,
as unique to human
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Why talk about animalminds? How do such distinctly human
characteristics factor in ourconsiderations about how we should
treat animals? Does the fact that animals do not have
our kind of consciousness justify our use
of them as means to an end? Or does our very capacity for reason
indicate that we should protect anddefend animals, even and especially
from human intervention?
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pertains to the experience ofsensory mental events and statesor qualia (Kim 1998: 157)
Phenomenalconsciousness
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Thomas Nagels formulation of thiskind of consciousness is, There issomething it is like to be
Phenomenalconsciousness
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While there is something it is like tobe a bat or a human being, there is
nothing it is like to be a chair or a
Phenomenalconsciousness
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Most animalspossess a degree ofphenomenalconsciousness. They
are sentientorcapable of havingfeelings or feltsensations and
emotional states(De Grazia 2002:40).
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Vertebrates orcreatures thatpossess backbonesare generally
considered sentient:E.g. Humans, theGreat Apes anddolphins, othermammals fromelephants torodents, birds,reptiles andamphibians, and
fish (De Grazia
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Two kinds of consciousness
Discriminating among sentient and non-sentient animals is necessary informulating a moral stand in regard to
themThe principle behind the ethical
treatment of animals rests on theircapacity to feel pain, an unpleasant oraversive sensory experience typicallyassociated with actual or potential tissuedamage and suffering, a highly
unpleasant emotional state associated- -
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a state of inner awareness by which oneis capable of higher-order thought.
Self-consciousness
Cli k i dd i
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David Rosenthal sums it up thusly: amental states being conscious consists in
ones having a thought that one is in that
Self-consciousness
Cli k i dd i
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Self-consciousness also implies a unityof all phenomenal perceptions in an
individual ego.
Self-consciousness
Cli k i t dd i t
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There is a perceived subject who binds theseoverlapping experiences together, who
understands that these events are
Self-consciousness
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-be a prerequisite for moral
rights?The three main criteria for personhood(Anderson 2004: 2) are:
Sentience - the subjective experience of
sensory impressions and internal thoughts;a sentient being is one whom there issomething it is like to be.
Intelligence - the capacity to understandand cope with new situations
Self-awareness - the subjects knowledgeof the things external to him or her and his
or her internal states as well. It implies theca acit to reflect on his or her own
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-be a prerequisite for moral
rights? Not all humans are persons, e.g.Babies, very young children, brain-damaged individuals, those who are in a
comatose state, and the insane
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-be a prerequisite for moral
rights? Not all persons are human, e.g. robots orartificially-intelligent creatures (C3PO in Star Wars,Agent Smith in The Matrix), the ghosts atHogwarts in the Harry Potterseries, and some
animals in films such as Garfield or in comic bookssuch as the precocious tiger in Calvin and Hobbes
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-be a prerequisite for moral
rights? Animals are not persons. Even thoughthey satisfy the first requirement,sentience, they do not possess either
intelligence or self-awareness.
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-be a prerequisite for moral
rights?Traditionally, moral responsibility isascribed only to persons, who areuniquely capable of rational choice. But
it is not the case that only persons haveor deserve moral rights
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-be a prerequisite for moral
rights? Some of the most basic moral rights aswe commonly understand them includeany and all of the following:
The right to live,
The right to liberty and security of person,
The right to equality and to be free from all
forms of discrimination,The right to be free from torture and ill-
treatment, and
The right to development
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-be a prerequisite for moral
rights? I argue that the case for animalliberation need not be predicated on aone-to-one correspondence between
human and animal consciousness Sentience--the fact that a being can feel
pain and experience suffering should beenough to ground the ethical demand forus not to harm that being
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treatment of non-human
animals We should not eat animals We should stop using animals for sport
or games
We should stop mass-producing animalssolely for the purpose of eating them
We should not remove animals from
their natural environments for our ownamusement or entertainment
We should refrain from using animals for
clothing and accessories
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References
Carruthers, Peter. Why the question ofanimal consciousness may not mattervery much. 2004.
Http://www.philosophy.umd.edu/people/fac/animal-consciousness-might-not-matter.pdf. [Available online.] Accessed17 September 2004.
De Grazia, David. 2002.Animal rights: Avery short introduction. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.
Dennett Daniel C 1995 Animal
http://www.philosophy.umd.edu/people/faculty/pcarruthershttp://www.philosophy.umd.edu/people/faculty/pcarruthers