I'm so sorry to be a killjoy over this (and yes, my lab is known for this sort of thing), but it is totally *not* parsimonious to declare that animals have consciousness. My lab has always had beef with the Cambridge lab over this (and the primatologist labs that argue over theory of mind, or ToM).
I'll try to keep this short: ToM means that you can attribute mental states to others (I can imagine what you might be thinking). This is most experimenters criterion for "conciousness." However most of the "experimental evidence" that "demonstrates" that animals have ToM is more simply explained by attributing it to *behavior reading* (you give away some subtle and not-so-subtle cues that indicate your intentions or knowledge-state).
Having said this (and I could go on and on and on about this--its all we ever do at our cognition conferences), animals not being sentient is NO excuse not to treat them humanely/with respect. Speciesism is disgusting and barbaric. We know that animals have intelligence, that they can feel pain...whether or not they have consciousness or souls is totally irrelevant.
I'll try to keep this short: ToM means that you can attribute mental states to others (I can imagine what you might be thinking). This is most experimenters criterion for "conciousness." However most of the "experimental evidence" that "demonstrates" that animals have ToM is more simply explained by attributing it to *behavior reading* (you give away some subtle and not-so-subtle cues that indicate your intentions or knowledge-state).
Having said this (and I could go on and on and on about this--its all we ever do at our cognition conferences), animals not being sentient is NO excuse not to treat them humanely/with respect. Speciesism is disgusting and barbaric. We know that animals have intelligence, that they can feel pain...whether or not they have consciousness or souls is totally irrelevant.
Reply
Leave a comment