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Given the similarities between us and other animals, it should make more sense to have to disprove that they don't feel pain, rather than having to prove that t
by kranner 7y ago
Given the similarities between us and other animals, it should make more sense to have to disprove that they don't feel pain, rather than having to prove that they do, i.e., that they must feel pain should be the default assumption in the absence of data.
- raverbashing 7y agoWhich similarities? Insects have a much, much simpler nervous system. They don't even have a spinal chord, and they have an exoskeleton. I think maybe only cnidarians have a simpler (or similarly complex) nervous system. Pain on a chordate might be comparable to pain in humans, with some exceptions like the Octopus (maybe) but that's about it.
- kranner 7y agoBut we don't know that insects absolutely couldn't experience pain, in the same way that we're certain a brick couldn't (unless one is a panpsychist). At least they have a nervous system.
- raverbashing 7y agoPain as in stimulus to nerve endings given damage to a limb yes But pain in humans (or other more complex animals) is more complicated than that
- kranner 7y agoIt may be more complicated, but do we know the minimum complexity required of a nervous system to support 'suffering'? If not, surely we are obligated to give even the simplest nervous systems the benefit of the doubt.