Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Human and Animal Consciousness

Similarly, the concerns expressed in your question arise only if animals have self-consciousness. I was puzzled by how troubled you seem to be at the notion that some animals are conscious. Mere consciousness or sentience does not suffice to make an organism a moral agent. It is a non-sequitur to conclude that because a dog feels an itch in his leg “animals do have the same states of consciousness as we do.” So you are quite mistaken when you assert “the distinction God draws between us and animals is exactly our conscious state.” No, the distinction is that we are free, self-conscious agents, not merely sentient organisms. You have nothing to fear theologically from recognizing that animals are conscious. And that is all that the Cambridge Declaration affirms.

Read more: Animal Consciousness Once More

h/t Victor Reppert

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