Abstract:
Proving whether animals are either capable or incapable of feeling (i.e. core consciousness)
is a problem that is difficult to address because mental states cannot be directly
observed. Many animals exhibit behavior similar to our own, and consequently it
is easy to attribute to them corresponding mental states. The assumptions underlying
these attributions, however, are subject to error; there is no absolute rule by which mental
states correlate with behavior, and we have no means of verification through verbal reports.
A different approach must therefore be taken. Revealing the presence in animals
of the neural structures responsible for producing core consciousness in humans would
essentially prove that such animals too are capable of feeling. Unfortunately, at present
little is known about the biology responsible for producing core consciousness in humans.
At best general regions containing the necessary structures are slowly being located.
Based upon similarity of structures, evidence suggests that at least mammals are
core conscious and perhaps all other vertebrates as well.