Q&A: Pain and Suffering in Animals — Do They Exist?
Pain and Suffering in Animals — Do They Exist?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I find the topic of pain and suffering in animals to be a vague and complicated one.
1. First, there is a confusion here between science and philosophy. Seemingly, no scientific finding can answer whether animals feel pain. You can’t even prove pain in a human being, only rely on people’s reports. On the other hand, there are tests that show with high probability that animals do feel pain (they avoid using an injured limb, and go back to using it when given painkillers, etc.).
In the end, at least regarding more complex animals, it seems to me that we find in them exactly what we find in human beings, and so it becomes a philosophical question, like the famous question whether perhaps everyone besides me is not really conscious.
2. The undefined distinction between suffering and pain.
Each side speaks with complete confidence about whether it has been proven that they suffer, and I find myself confused.
I would be glad if the Rabbi could bring some order to the matter, from the definitions through the distinction between what here is philosophy and what here is science, and whether the question here is scientific or philosophical.
Answer
I think there is nothing confusing here at all. There are indeed questions here that we cannot answer adequately (though we do have intuitions about them).
The question of pain is subjective, and like any subjective sensation it is inaccessible to any of us, except for my own pain as experienced by myself. True, there are various indicators that I know from myself express pain (if I scream or writhe, etc.), and when I see them in others I infer that they are suffering (though there is the problem of the philosophers’ chestnut). I also have people’s reports that they feel pain, but that applies only to people.
Therefore, in the end there is no way to decide clearly about the question of another person’s pain, or that of any creature whatsoever. With a person, there is also his own report, but with another creature we do not even have that. There are indicators of sensations and similarities between their systems and ours, so reasonable hypotheses can be raised, but they are far from clear, and certainly not scientific.
As you wrote, there is also a difference between suffering and pain, and suffering is even harder to define and diagnose. But again, the assumption is that if some creature feels pain, then it also suffers. When that creature has no consciousness (and there is no clear way to test and determine that either, although there are scientific claims that try to propose measures; what I have seen among them was mistaken), it is doubtful to what extent the pain it feels can be translated into suffering. It is hard for me to imagine what a creature without consciousness goes through when it is in pain. Perhaps for this reason the accepted assumption in ethics is that one should not cause pain, and there is no need to discuss the question of suffering. In my opinion, that is very philosophically and ethically reasonable.
From this point on, you should use your own intuition and do as you see fit. That is all.
Discussion on Answer
Consciousness is not identical to sensation. Some creature can feel something and still not be aware that it is feeling it. Awareness, by definition, contains some dimension of reflection. This was discussed quite extensively in yesterday’s lecture (Self-Reference 2). True, this is a subtle matter, and it really is hard to define and distinguish.
Animals have no consciousness, and therefore they have no pain or suffering or anything like that. That is how it seems on the face of it.
Anyone who abuses an animal deserves the death penalty.
Thank you.
Could you explain more about what pain is and what the difference is between it and suffering? How can one say that someone has pain if he has no consciousness? After all, there has to be a “someone” who feels that pain.