Agreeing on the premise that sentient beings are capable of experiencing pain and suffering, most humans would further agree that it is morally wrong to inflict unnecessary pain or suffering. The concept of sentience is important because it provides a foundation for the animal welfare movement. Scientists have not yet conclusively determined whether spiders, other insects, and gastropods (e.g. shrimp, lobsters, crayfish, and crabs), indicate that they too are probably sentient. Studies of non-vertebrate animals, including octopus, squid, and cuttlefish, and decapod crustaceans (e.g. The agreed circle of sentience has expanded to include vertebrate animals (creatures with spines), and in particular parrots, dogs, pigs, cows, other farmed animals, and other companion animals. Even modern scientists have difficulty establishing with certainty which animals are sentient because humans cannot know definitively how another being (animal or human) is feeling. Rene Descartes is famous for propounding the view that animals are automata-incapable of feeling pain or suffering. Early philosophers thought only of humans as sentient. The sentience of humans is widely understood and accepted, while the sentience of other animal species is increasingly being recognized. According to Broom, a sentient being is able to “evaluate the actions of others in relation to itself and third parties, to remember some of its own actions and their consequences, to assess risks and benefits, to have some feelings, and to have some degree of awareness.” Broom, Emeritus Professor of Animal Welfare at Cambridge University, expands on Kirkwood and DeGrazia’s definition by detailing the abilities that a being must have to be considered sentient. James Kirkwood, veterinarian and former director of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, and David DeGrazia, Elton Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University, consider sentience as the capacity to have feelings. While sentience has no generally accepted definition, scholars agree on some common elements. Sentience is a subject of rich scientific literature. In dictionary definitions, sentience is defined as “ able to experience feelings,” “ responsive to or conscious of sense impressions,” and “ capable of feeling things through physical senses.” Sentient beings experience wanted emotions like happiness, joy, and gratitude, and unwanted emotions in the form of pain, suffering, and grief. The word sentient derives from the Latin verb sentire, which means “to feel.” The first letters, “sen,” match the beginnings of common English words including sentiment, sensory, and sensation-all of which give hints as to the meaning of the term. “Sentient” is an adjective that describes a capacity for feeling. While many people have some understanding of what is meant by sentience, its centrality to contemporary discussions about how humans treat animals warrants in-depth understanding. Even recently enacted legislation in many parts of the world acknowledges that animals are sentient. Mainstream reporting of scientific studies references sentience. Documentaries like Dominion and Earthlings highlight the sentience of animals by showing graphic video footage of animals appearing to experience pain and suffering. Animal advocates argue that animals should have rights because they are sentient. Send us feedback.While there is nothing new about the word sentience, its public use seems to be increasing. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sentience.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Jacob Carpenter, Fortune, 13 June 2022 In essence, people are assigning human-like sentience to today’s AI, despite the undeniable and inarguable fact that no such AI exists as yet. 2022 Blake Lemoine, an employee in Google’s Responsible AI division, told The Washington Post that his conversations with a company chatbot lead him to believe in the program’s sentience. researchers worry that these systems are on their way to sentience or consciousness. 2022 Some get confused by the powers of these models and make claims such as sentience.Īrun Shastri, Forbes, 26 June 2022 In essence, people are assigning human-like sentience to today’s AI, despite the undeniable and inarguable fact that no such AI exists as yet. chatbot technology had attained human-like sentience. 2022 And then there is Blake Lemoine, a former Google employee who caused a stir in June by claiming that the company’s A.I. 2022 In essence, people are assigning human-like sentience to today’s AI, despite the undeniable and inarguable fact that no such AI exists as yet. Recent Examples on the Web This new research, though, is more focused on the exhibition of sentience seen in brain cells in a dish.
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