November 11, 2012
WHAT DO ANIMALS WANT?
Marian Stamp Dawkins in Edge:
The questions I'm asking myself are really about how much we really know about animal consciousness. A lot of people think we do, or think that we don't need scientific evidence. It really began to worry me that people were basing their arguments on something that we really can't know about at all. One of the questions I asked myself was: how much do we really know? And is what we know the best basis for arguing for animal welfare? I've been thinking hard about that, and I came to the conclusion that the hard problem of consciousness is actually very hard. It's still there, and we kid ourselves if we think we've solved it. Therefore, to base the whole argument of animal welfare and the ethical way we treat animals on something as nebulous as having solved the hard problem of consciousness seemed to be a really bad thing. Not at all a good thing for animals. I was interested in trying to find other arguments to support animal welfare; reasons why people should take notice of animals that didn't rest on having solved the hard problem of consciousness.
It seemed to me that if you think about human beings, the way to get them to change their behavior is to show them that their own self-interest lies in doing something. For example, if you argue that animal welfare improves human health, improves the health of their children, it gives them better food, it gives them better quality of life. Those arguments may actually be much more powerful for people who aren't already convinced about animal welfare than trying to use an argument based on animal consciousness, when really we haven't got the good basis for it that some people would like to think we have.
More here.
Posted by Azra Raza at 02:57 PM | Permalink
Comments
Pathetic and tragic to think of the good this woman could have done if she only had a proper grounding in ethics: she could have dedicated her life to leaving animals the f*** alone instead of swallowing the nonsense that they must live and die for human caprice and striving to palliate the consciences of the oppressors with her "welfare" rubbish.
Posted by: Rita | Nov 12, 2012 5:43:27 AM
"What do animals want?"
I guess they just want to live.
Frankly, the question itself is insulting and should be insulting to any living being.
Posted by: Raza | Nov 12, 2012 10:25:10 AM
I read the article, and it's quite long, but it still does not adequately address the question how one might know what animals wanted without concerning oneself with animal consciousness. Your behavior can display an inclination, but it is your consciousness that articulates what you want. Be ye any kind of animal. If we want animals to survive and thrive and carry on without our torturing them, we know what to do. We know what to do to see to it that people who are treated like animals are liberated from that bondage, too. Since we can articulate desires, or at least consciously note them, we should be asking what voluntary behaviors of our own demonstrate about what we want, rather than what animals want.
Posted by: Elatia Harris | Nov 12, 2012 12:43:23 PM
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