Are There Animals That Are Not Sentient?

Sentient animals. Do you know what that means? Are Animals Sentient? The human being, in general, tends to disqualify what he does not know because there is a mental weariness in seeking to understand that which is new and, in many ways, different from us. In the same way, many people resist when others raise the flag for the struggle for recognition of animals as sentient beings because this status implies recognizing that these beings have fundamental and essential rights, such as life, freedom, dignity. We say that a being is sentient when we recognize and accept that he is able to feel, to experience feelings as pain, anguish, loneliness, love, joy, anger and fear. To really grasp the meaning of sentience in animals, we need to define the term. The word Sentient derives from the term SENTIRE from Latin and means to FEEL. According to Singer’s definition (2002), sentience is the capability to suffer, to feel pleasure or happiness. It is the competence to receive and react to a stimulus consciously. Being aware is synonymous with having experiences, which can be positive or negative for individuals.   Animals are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time. ~Henry Beston   To recognize that animals are able to experience feelings like pain, anguish, loneliness, love, joy, and anger and that those aren’t just privilege of the human being, but of all animals is a step towards a more conscious and enlightened society. Beings that do not have a central nervous system are not sentient. This includes bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, plants and some animals. There is a possibility that some animals with a simplified central nervous system are not sentient either, but this is an open question and…

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