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people didn’t even think animals felt pain until the 1980s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_animals#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_animals#

people didn’t even think animals felt pain until the 1980s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_animals#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_animals#History

klyrs 5y ago
Similar timeline on babies. But I think it's important to distinguish "scientists" from "people" in this case. My mom witnessed my brother's circumcision, on the day of his birth. She knew without a doubt that he was in immense pain, which the doctor flatly denied. Similarly, people who work with animals have known that they feel pain since time immemorial. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_babies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_babies
- glanard_frugner 5y ago
  > As recently as 1999, it was commonly stated that babies could not feel pain until they were a year old, how would it even be possible to reach that conclusion?
  - Mountain_Skies 5y ago
    Dogma needed it to be true so it was true.
ajuc 5y ago
This is one of these things that most people who deal with animals (so - almost everybody) knew for millenia but philosophers debated over cause it's interesting and you can show off how smart you are and quote classics. You will have a very hard time taming an animal if you think it feels no pain.
_game_of_life 5y ago
No... That's not true. You're off by over one hundred years for the Western world. The UK passed the Cruelty to Animals act in 1876 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruelty_to_Animals_Act,_1876 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruelty_to_Animals_Act,_1876 The act states that: > "Researchers would be prosecuted for cruelty, unless they conformed to its provisions, which required that an experiment involving the infliction of pain upon animals to only be conducted when "the proposed experiments are absolutely necessary for the due instruction of the persons [so they may go on to use the instruction] to save or prolong human life" It also contains punishments for not giving animals anesthestia, which is a ridiculous waste of resources if "people didn't even think animals felt pain until the 1980s."

people didn’t even think animals felt pain until the 1980s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_animals#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_animals#History

klyrs 5y ago

Similar timeline on babies. But I think it's important to distinguish "scientists" from "people" in this case. My mom witnessed my brother's circumcision, on the day of his birth. She knew without a doubt that he was in immense pain, which the doctor flatly denied. Similarly, people who work with animals have known that they feel pain since time immemorial. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_babies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_babies

glanard_frugner 5y ago
> As recently as 1999, it was commonly stated that babies could not feel pain until they were a year old, how would it even be possible to reach that conclusion?
- Mountain_Skies 5y ago
  Dogma needed it to be true so it was true.

ajuc 5y ago

This is one of these things that most people who deal with animals (so - almost everybody) knew for millenia but philosophers debated over cause it's interesting and you can show off how smart you are and quote classics. You will have a very hard time taming an animal if you think it feels no pain.

_game_of_life 5y ago

No... That's not true. You're off by over one hundred years for the Western world. The UK passed the Cruelty to Animals act in 1876 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruelty_to_Animals_Act,_1876 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruelty_to_Animals_Act,_1876 The act states that: > "Researchers would be prosecuted for cruelty, unless they conformed to its provisions, which required that an experiment involving the infliction of pain upon animals to only be conducted when "the proposed experiments are absolutely necessary for the due instruction of the persons [so they may go on to use the instruction] to save or prolong human life" It also contains punishments for not giving animals anesthestia, which is a ridiculous waste of resources if "people didn't even think animals felt pain until the 1980s."