Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Philosopher Jonathan Birch on animal welfare, indicators of sentience and how to determine whether a crab feels any pain.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/animal-sentience-10350
'What we're talking about here is sentience, consciousness in a very basic sense that doesn't require a lot of the very sophisticated capacities that humans have, so it doesn't require the capacity to have a kind of inner monologue in which you have a conscious train of thought. Crab very probably doesn't have that, crabs are not thinking to themselves as they scuttle along on the beach. The question is whether there's any feeling there, any subjective feeling, and of particular ethical relevance and particular legal relevance is the question of whether there's any pain or pleasure.'
Jonathan Birch, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Animals and Human Communication: serious-science.org/animals-and-human-communication-10269
The Evolution of Altruism: serious-science.org/the-evolution-of-altruism-10128
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Philosopher Jonathan Birch on animal welfare, indicators of sentience and how to determine whether a crab feels any pain.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/animal-sentience-10350
'What we're talking about here is sentience, consciousness in a very basic sense that doesn't require a lot of the very sophisticated capacities that humans have, so it doesn't require the capacity to have a kind of inner monologue in which you have a conscious train of thought. Crab very probably doesn't have that, crabs are not thinking to themselves as they scuttle along on the beach. The question is whether there's any feeling there, any subjective feeling, and of particular ethical relevance and particular legal relevance is the question of whether there's any pain or pleasure.'
Jonathan Birch, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Animals and Human Communication: serious-science.org/animals-and-human-communication-10269
The Evolution of Altruism: serious-science.org/the-evolution-of-altruism-10128
Be the first to find out about our new videos and articles. Learn interesting facts about various topics and people. Discover the answers to the big questions. Be in the know.
serious-science.org
Follow us:
We are on Patreon: patreon.com/SeriousScience
Facebook — facebook.com/serious.science.org
Twitter — twitter.com/scienceserious
YouTube — youtube.com/user/SeriousScience
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Tumblr — serious-science.tumblr.com
VK — vk.com/seriousscience
