#SENTIENCE DEFINITION FULL#

These are some of the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans: Whales and Dolphins. We argue that their intelligence and understanding of the world around them is such that protecting their physical and basic psychological wellbeing is insufficient and that beyond a basic ‘right to life, liberty and wellbeing’, they also have the right to freedom of movement and residence within their natural environment the protection of their natural environment and not to be subjected to the disruption of their cultures. WDC believes that as sentient and sapient individuals, whales and dolphins deserve to have their homes, families and cultures protected as well as being protected as individuals. If the recognition of sentience in other species results in the moral imperative to ensure that we protect their welfare by avoiding activities which inflict either physical or psychological suffering recognising sapience in some of these species must be the clarion call for us to go further (see Jane Goodall's forward to Whales and Dolphins: Cognition, Culture, Conservation and Human Perceptions - Brakes & Simmonds 2011). The angry denials do not (and I would argue cannot) include a definition of what sentience actually is. Beyond sentience there is also now an impressive body of evidence on consciousness in a wide range of species and this led to the development of The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness. There is now a wide body of scientific evidence to support sentience in a wide range of species and this evidence comes from a broad range of scientific disciplines from animal behaviour to neurophysiology.

#SENTIENCE DEFINITION FULL#

This means the EU Member States should ‘pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals’. The European Union recognises, through a legally-binding protocol annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam that animals are ‘sentient beings’. Good experiences could be as important in shaping behaviour as bad experiences and it is just as important to provide individual whales and dolphins with the opportunity to flourish and have positive experiences as well as protect them from suffering.Īnimal welfare advocates argue that sentient animals should not be subjected to unnecessary suffering. In its most basic sense, sentience is the ability to have sensations and as a result have experiences which then may be used to guide future actions and reactions. Sentience is the ability to feel or perceive the world around you and as a result have subjective experiences (i.e.

Sentience definition