No they don’t. Are you saying it’s not possible to construct a mind for which pain and suffering are not bad? Or are you defining pain and suffering as bad things?
I’d do it that way. It doesn’t strike me as morally urgent to prevent people with pain asymbolia from experiencing the sensation of “pain”. (Subjects report that they notice the sensation of pain, but they claim it doesn’t bother them.) I’d define suffering as wanting to get out of the state you’re in. If you’re fine with the state you’re in, it is not what I consider to be suffering.
So, a question for anyone who both agrees with that formulation and thinks that “we should care about the suffering of animals” (or some similar view):
Do you think that animals can “want to get out of the state they’re in”?
This varies from animal to animal. There’s a fair amount of research/examination into which animals appear to do so, some of which is linked to elsewhere in this discussion. (At least some examination was linked to in response to a statement about fish)
I’d do it that way. It doesn’t strike me as morally urgent to prevent people with pain asymbolia from experiencing the sensation of “pain”. (Subjects report that they notice the sensation of pain, but they claim it doesn’t bother them.) I’d define suffering as wanting to get out of the state you’re in. If you’re fine with the state you’re in, it is not what I consider to be suffering.
Ok, that seems workable to a first approximation.
So, a question for anyone who both agrees with that formulation and thinks that “we should care about the suffering of animals” (or some similar view):
Do you think that animals can “want to get out of the state they’re in”?
Yes?
This varies from animal to animal. There’s a fair amount of research/examination into which animals appear to do so, some of which is linked to elsewhere in this discussion. (At least some examination was linked to in response to a statement about fish)