Descartes believed that consciousness
was a mental phenomena, requiring a
mind or soul. Since he believed animals
had no souls, he believed that they were
"biological robots", with neither thought,
nor feeling, nor sensations of pain and
pleasure. He saw them as creatures
driven merely by instict and
stimulus/response.

Prof. Borrowdale

On 2/6/2003 1:28:15 PM, Lauren Libbert
wrote:
>I have a question about
>Descartes and whether or
>not he believed that animals
>think and feel pain
>and the arguments against his
>position. I can't
>find reference to this in any
>of the reading. I'm
>probably just missing it. Can
>anyone help me out
>with the answer? Thanks.



Prof. Borrowdale
borrowdalej@lanecc.edu
541-463-5434