When people cause, or take part in the cruel treatment of animals, they often soothe their conscience with the argument that animals can't feel pain.
Twelve Arguments Against Animals
Argument Four
Animals cannot feel pain.
When people cause, or take part in the cruel treatment of animals, they often
soothe their conscience with the argument that animals can't feel pain.
This absurd notion was given false credibility when the French philosopher and
vivisector Rene Descartes championed the view that non-human animals consist of
mindless, unfeeling, instinctive reactions similar to machines. But this cannot
be considered scientific any longer.
Scientists have conducted
thousands of cruel experiments with animals...
...in which they use pain-avoidance as a key behavior in the test subjects. If
the idea that animals feel pain was unscientific, then why do scientists expect
animals to avoid pain in their experiments?
We know that animals have nerves and brains.
We know that the purpose of nerves is to convey sensory stimuli to the brain.
We know from our own bodies
that nerves do feel pain and convey that message loud and clear to our brains.
We even know what part of our brain registers pain. It is the thalamus: also
called the "reptilian brain" because this very primitive part of the brain has
not evolved since we were in the reptilian stage of our evolution.
In other words: from humans on down to the lowest reptile, this part of the
brain is the same.
And the logical conclusion is that from humans on down the evolutionary scale at least as far as the reptiles, the experience of pain is the same. In fact, the sensation of pain may be greater in other animals since they may not be able to console themselves with the thought that the pain is of short duration. It may fill their entire being with pain and fear.
In any case, nature is not
wasteful -- or generous.
When an animal has evolved a central nervous system, it is there for a reason.
The function of a central nervous system is to convey sensations, including
pain. And pain serves a very useful function in any animal's survival.
If you lay your hand on a hot burner you might leave it there to suffer
irreparable damage if it were not for the sensation of pain: which causes you to
yank your hand
away almost instantly. So too in nature: an animal would not survive long
without the capacity to feel pain and so avoid what is harmful to their well
being and continued existence.
Argument Five