Animal Consciousness
Colin Allen, Michael Trestman · 2020 · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Summary
Surveys the empirical and philosophical evidence for consciousness in non-human animals.
Why it matters here
The default reference for the case that mammals, birds, and at least some invertebrates are conscious.
Linked claims
Behavioural, neural and pharmacological evidence converges. The 2012 Cambridge Declaration formalized the scientific position.
Anecdotes of dogs anticipating their owner's return or sensing distant trauma are common. Controlled video studies show some signal, contested.
A popular comforting belief among grieving pet owners. No documented case archive on the order of human past-life cases.
Related evidence hubs
What consciousness is, how it relates to brains, and whether it's basic to reality.
The nature of subjective experience.
Animal consciousness, plant cognition, animal psi.
Lab-tested claims of telepathy, precognition, remote viewing, and PK.
Telepathy, precognition, remote viewing, PK.
Children's past-life memories, birthmark cases, and the rebirth interpretation.
Past-life memories, karma, soul contracts.