Section A10: The Inner Lives of Animals
After long resisting the conclusion that animals are conscious in any way similar to humans, scientists and philosophers today are finally addressing a number of exceedingly challenging and far-reaching questions: What is consciousness? How does it come into being? How do we come to know what is in the minds of other human beings? Can we use the same means to access the experience of other animal species? What in fact do animals of various species feel? Are they capable of empathy, joy and sorrow? What is the nature of their thinking--if indeed they think? In particular, can they recall the past and anticipate the future? Do they have a sense of self? What is the nature of their communication with others of their own species, and with us? If other species do indeed feel and think in ways not so different from us, what are the implications for our relationships with them and for the world that we share in common? And what, finally, should we conclude about ourselves, the human animal?