Ghost in the Machine; The Cambridge Declaration, Consciousness, and Animal Intelligence
Date
2022-05
Authors
Feauto, Ryan
Major Professor
Bracha, Vlatislav
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Bracha, Vlatislav
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Abstract
The question of whether animals are conscious has long been considered one of the most difficult problems in science to solve. However, that has not stopped scientists from trying. In July of 2012, a group of cognitive neuroscientists, neuropharmacologists, neurophysiologists, neuroanatomists, and computational neuroscientists gathered at Cambridge to discuss the matter of animal consciousness. The resulting Cambridge Declaration stated that non-human animals exhibit intentional behaviors and possess neurological substrates for consciousness. Thus, they are conscious. In fact, definitively declaring animals to be conscious may be scientifically impossible, as most examples cited by the Declaration attempt to use external behaviors as proof of an internal awareness. Using the external to explain the internal can only qualify as an inference, meaning that science may never be able to definitively solve the problem of consciousness.
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creative component
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2022