New blog post: How I feel about work on animal sentience. https://www.keithfrankish.com/2022/12/how-i-feel-about-work-on-animal-sentience/ @rgblong @birchlse #xp
@keithfrankish so… if I understood, you think the project will have useful outcomes even though sentience is undefined?
@jerlich It's more that I think we need to reconceptualize sentience, as we reconceptualized life
@keithfrankish do you have some writing on the topic(s) for non-philosophers ?
I had the opportunity to go to a workshop run by Birch at LSE. Seems to me that they have a very clear goal in studying sentience: a sentient being Carries more weight in moral calculations. For the record, I support improving animal welfare, in particular in factory farming. Is your thinking about sentience and life also guided by ethical concerns?
@jerlich Re writings: this is a gentle introduction to my view of consciousness https://www.philosophersmag.com/essays/222-the-lure-of-the-cartesian-sideshow
This recent lecture is also fairly accessible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfUPucMNvJE
@keithfrankish thanks. A good read. I tend to agree that is is no Cartesian sideshow or theatre. But it’s still deeply mysterious how / why some things rise to conscious awareness and other things do not. Is there one control system in particular that generates awareness?
@jerlich I agree that a sentient being carries more weight morally, and I too support improving animal welfare. My concern is with how we conceive of sentience. Many philosophers conceive of it in a way that makes it deeply mysterious and impossible to detect.