Current Understanding Of Animal Sentience
Our understanding of animal sentience—in short, an animal’s ability to experience pain and pleasure—serves as the backbone of animal welfare. This paper presents a history of humans’ understanding of animal sentience as well as an overview of the field’s current state and potential future directions. This review focuses on implications for animal welfare advocacy and discusses what role animal sentience plays in helping to bring about positive changes in the care of animals.
[Abstract excerpted from original source.]
“The science of animal sentience underpins the entire animal welfare movement. Demonstrating objectively what animals are capable of is key to achieving a positive change in attitudes and actions towards animals, and a real, sustainable difference for animal welfare. This paper briefly summarises understanding and acceptance of animal sentience through the ages. Although not an exhaustive history, it highlights some of the leading figures whose opinions and work have most affected perspectives of animal sentience. There follows a review of the current state of animal sentience, what is known, and what the main limitations have been for the development of the study of sentience. The paper concludes with some thoughts for the future of the science, and where it should be going in order to most benefit animal welfare.”
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/2/4/628