Descartes' Theory - Can An Animal Have Sensations?
Descartes' Metaphysics of Thought Relating to Animals
May 6, 2009
It is important to understand what Descartes’ account of thought is when it is concerning non-human animals, and it’s implications for animal sensation.
It's also important to examine Descartes' theory relative to whether it conflicts with the claim that animals have sensations before it is possible to come to a decision on how this conflict can be resolved.
Are Animals Sapient Beings?
Most would agree that animals are sentient beings and they are aware of their environment, but to deal with the question of whether or not they have sensations you must ask yourself if they are sapient beings; if they are capable of rational thought and actions, of understanding, reasoning and knowing.
Upon reading Descartes' theory, it becomes quite clear that Descartes’ account of thought does appear to conflict and contradict the claim that animals can have sensations when looking at non-human animals.
Descartes’ account of thought contains the belief that non-human animals lack all reason and thought, that they do not have minds, and that creatures without minds do not have any sensory experiences. This implies that animals do not have sensations, and do not feel such sensations as pain.
The Power of Thought
Descartes felt that the main power/capacity that could not be explained mechanically was thought. There is no link between life and thought due to the fact that the soul/mind is immaterial, and the body is a material substance, according to Cartesian theory.
Descartes stated that non-human animals are complex machines, that all living things are machines. He rejected the separation of life and mechanism, but he did not agree with the Aristotelian view that all animals think, are conscious, and have mentality merely "because" they are alive (and in that way they are not mechanical).
"Putnam…affirms the traditional connection between thinking and being alive." (P.128, Aspects of Mind) Yes, they are alive in Descartes’ view, because Descartes’ felt that to be alive a being/creature must contain warm blood.
Descartes felt that non-human animals had no mental capacity though, that because sensation is a mode of thought, and to have a thought you must first have a mind, then it follows that non-human animals cannot have sensations or any other mode of thought, as there is no part of an animal that is immaterial (in Descartes’ theory).
Therefore, following Descartes’ metaphysics of thought and its implications, animals are not sapient beings and they do not have the mental capacity for understanding, thinking, knowing, and reasoning. This fits into the theory that only language users i.e. human beings are capable of real thought, or logical reasoning.
Descartes' Metaphysics of Thought
Descartes’ theory was that thought was the one capacity which could not be explained by mechanical principles, because thought was the only power which comes from the mind as opposed to the body. Descartes was a substance dualist, and "according to him, with the one exception of God, every thing that exists is either corporeal or incorporeal, that is, either a material substance or a mental substance." (P.36, Aspects of Mind).
Thought, according to this theory in incorporeal and is a mental substance, and Descartes had the belief that there was nothing in any non-human animal that was immaterial. Animals, according to Descartes, are merely material substances, and they are not able therefore to have any sensations.
Sources:
- Crawford.S (2005) Aspects of Mind, The Open University.
