Animal Consciousness

Animal consciousness

Nearly all modern-day scientists agree that at least mammals and birds are almost certainly conscious of their emotions. The "Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness" was one clear expression of this consensus.

That animals can consciously suffer almost needs no discussion, but agnostics remain, some of them noble in spirit.

One agnostic animal advocate is Marian Stamp Dawkins, whose "Convincing the Unconvinced That Animal Welfare Matters" encouraged animal advocates not to claim that science knows that animals are conscious and instead to advance other reasons for caring about animals, including human-centered ones. In reply, Marc Bekoff wrote "Dawkins' Dangerous Idea: We Really Don't Know If Animals Are Conscious," arguing that Dawkins was ignoring too much of the overwhelming case for animal consciousness that already exists. There are many more debates of this type, but I'll focus on the Dawkins-Bekoff exchange here.