Human and Animal Consciousness

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Click to edit Master subtitle style4/21/12

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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Click icon to add picture

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



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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



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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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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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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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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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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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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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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

Human and Animal Consciousness

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