On the Ability of Nonhuman Animals to Experience Pain

Adriana SCHETZ

Zakład Epistemologii, Instytut Filozofii, Wydział Humanistyczny, Uniwersytet Szczeciński, ul. Krakowska 71-79, 71-017 Szczecin, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of the validity of attributing nonhuman animals the ability to experience pain and suffering. Due to the fact that the author is interested in a basic and evolutionary early form of pain experience, the object of her study are mostly invertebrates. Thus the author investigates whether the generally accepted, scientific criteria of experiencing pain are philosophically satisfactory and discusses the relations between the anthropocentric and anthropomorphic attitudes in a study of the minds of nonhuman animals. In conclusion, the author proposes a list of three fallacies which must be avoided in an attempt to comprehend the mental life of animals.

Translated by Dorota Chabrajska

Keywords:

pain, stress, suffering, pain asymbolia, anthropocentrism, anthropomorfism, invertebrates, vertebrates, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Nikola Grahek, Thomas Nagel