Animal Consciousness - Paper 2
According to Martin Schonfield in “Animal Consciousness: Paradigm Change in the Life Sciences” “In the old analytic climate, claims that animals are sentient raised methodological and ideological problems and seemed debatable at best.”(Schonfield p. 1) Claims that animals were self-aware or intelligent were regarded as unfounded. “The task of science in the past four centuries had been to demythologize the past.”(Schonfield p.1) Daniel C. Dennett in “Animal Consciousness: What Matters and Why” states “that speculating about animal consciousness makes no sense.” (Dennett p.19) He wonders why we need to know about animal consciousness at all. I disagree with Dennett and will explore the possibilities of animals actually experiencing consciousness.
We know that other people have consciousness because we know we as individuals are conscious. There is a moral certainty that because we are, others are too. According to Dennett, we will never know whether or not an animal thinks so why bother thinking about it. I believe that we should look at this because there is evidence to suggest that they do think and have conscious minds. Maybe they are not thinkers like we are but they show that they have consciousness.
“Consciousness is a state of awareness” where the “experiencing subject is aware of itself as well as of its environment. ”(Schonfield p.1) In their Dictionary of Ethology, and from Donald R. Griffin 's essay Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness, Immelmann and Beer define animal consciousness as “immediate awareness of things, events, and relations.” (Griffin p.12)“Animals really think” and “non humans have measurable and efficacious intentions and thoughts.” (Schonfield p.5) Animals have their own language and to have language means to think. To think means to be conscious. Primates, birds and marine animals can use symbols like sign language, computer keyboards and gestures to communicate. Animals adapt to their environment.
We know that other people have consciousness because we know we as individuals are conscious. There is a moral certainty that because we are, others are too. According to Dennett, we will never know whether or not an animal thinks so why bother thinking about it. I believe that we should look at this because there is evidence to suggest that they do think and have conscious minds. Maybe they are not thinkers like we are but they show that they have consciousness.
“Consciousness is a state of awareness” where the “experiencing subject is aware of itself as well as of its environment. ”(Schonfield p.1) In their Dictionary of Ethology, and from Donald R. Griffin 's essay Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness, Immelmann and Beer define animal consciousness as “immediate awareness of things, events, and relations.” (Griffin p.12)“Animals really think” and “non humans have measurable and efficacious intentions and thoughts.” (Schonfield p.5) Animals have their own language and to have language means to think. To think means to be conscious. Primates, birds and marine animals can use symbols like sign language, computer keyboards and gestures to communicate. Animals adapt to their environment.