![]() ![]() But they might not include things such as the sense of satisfaction someone feels after finishing an important piece of work.Īll this can be confusing and misleading, however. And, at other times, they are equated with certain positive and negative experiences of a slightly broader character, including psychological suffering and pleasures. Specifically, the words ‘enjoyment’ and ‘suffering’ are often identified with physical pleasure and pain. This terminology can sometimes be misleading, since it may lead one to believe that it refers only to certain kinds of positive or negative experiences. Generally, positive experiences have been referred to with terms like ‘enjoyment’, ‘wellbeing’ or ‘happiness’, and negative experiences with terms like ‘pain’, ‘suffering’ and other synonyms. Use of the terms ‘suffering’ and ‘enjoyment’ An object can’t be aware of the damage that has been done to it, or itself be affected by the damage in any way, because the object is not an individual who can feel suffering or enjoyment. But that kind of damage is quite different from the ways in which a sentient being can be harmed. If something happens to these objects so that they can no longer perform these functions, we say they are damaged. There are objects with which we can perform certain functions, like a hammer, and objects that can perform certain functions for us on their own, like a car. There are certain objects that can be damaged, but not harmed. There are some important clarifications to make about the meanings of the terms ‘harm’ and ‘benefit’. A similar way of defining sentience, therefore, is the capacity to be harmed or benefited. They can affect the being for good or ill. The reason that consciousness or sentience is crucial for morality is that experiences, which only conscious beings can have, can be positive or negative for individuals who possess them. To be sentient is to be capable of being affected positively or negatively ![]() For example, when someone has an accident that irreversibly destroys the capacity for consciousness, the subject ceases to exist, even if the body is still alive. ![]() Thus, when a creature is no longer conscious, it can no longer have experiences, and so ceases to be an individual, a subject. In other words, to be conscious is synonymous with being sentient (capable of having positive and negative experiences). To say that someone has the experience of something is equivalent to saying that he or she is conscious of it. ‘Being conscious’ is synonymous with ‘having experiences’. An organism can only be a subject of experience if organized in such a way that they have the capacity for consciousness, and if there are structures such as a nervous system that function to actually give rise to consciousness. Being sentient means being consciousĪ conscious being is a subject of experience, meaning an entity that can experience what happens to itself. Sentience, or the ability to feel, is something different, namely the ability to receive and react to such stimuli consciously, by experiencing them from the inside. It is not the mere capacity to perceive stimuli or react to some action, as in the case of a machine that performs certain functions when we press a button. Sentience is the capacity to be affected positively or negatively. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |