Morality and animal mind: The role of sentience in ethical decision making

长期以来，拥有特定的智力一直被认为是将道德考虑扩展到其他生物的关键因素，人们普遍认为，动物承受痛苦的能力在随后的治疗和保障福利方面产生了伦理义务。我的博士工作试图通过探索个体是否愿意将心智能力归因于一系列非人类动物，以及如果是的话，这些归因的性质是什么，来解开这一“伦理契约”的初始阶段。除了理解我们将意识归因于他人的这些基本参数外，我的工作还调查了一系列相关的问题，例如公众对动物心理的信念是否过于拟人化？哪些因素会影响我们将心理归因于动物的方式？对特定心智能力的归属是否与使用动物为人类造福的伦理观点或动物福利的概念有关？我们用来捕捉个体关于动物精神生活的信念的研究方法是否合适？在我的博士后研究期间，这一研究将进一步发展，以调查我们赋予动物的心理能力如何影响我们在考虑对动物进行道德上可接受的使用时的决策过程。一旦衡量了感知或智力等个人心理能力的影响，就会评估这些心理能力相对于动物产品成本等其他标准所起的作用。通过这样做，我们不仅能够了解当个人做出抽象的决定时，哪些心理能力被认为是重要的，而且同样重要的程度是否适用于现实生活中的日常情况。预计这项研究的结果将与一系列利益相关者相关，包括科学家同行、政策官员、慈善组织、行业团体、消费者团体和公众。因此，作为研究金的一部分，研究结果将通过许多渠道传播，包括学术期刊文章和会议、执行摘要、政策活动、媒体文章和项目网站。

The possession of specific mental faculties has long been considered a key factor in extending moral consideration to other beings, with an animal's capacity for suffering widely believed to create ethical obligations in terms of their subsequent treatment and safeguarding of welfare. My PhD work attempts to unpick the initial stages of this 'ethical contract' by exploring whether individual's willingly attribute mental capacities to a range of nonhuman animals, and if so, what is the nature of those attributions? In addition to understanding these fundamental parameters in our ascriptions of mindedness to others, my work also investigates a range of associated questions such as are beliefs about animal mentality held by members of the public overly anthropomorphic? What factors influence the manner in which we ascribe mentality to animals? Is the ascription of specified mental abilities linked to views on the ethical use of animals for human benefit, or notions of animal welfare? And are the research methods we use to capture an individual's beliefs surrounding the mental lives of animals fit for purpose?During my postdoctoral fellowship, this line of research will be further developed to investigate how the mental abilities that we ascribe to animals influence our decision-making processes when considering morally acceptable use of animals. Once the influence of individual mental capacities such as sentience or intelligence has been measured, the role that these mental capacities play in comparison to other criteria such as the cost of animal products will be evaluated. In doing so, we will not only be able to understand which mental abilities are considered of importance when individuals are making abstract decisions, but also whether the same level of importance is applied in real-life, everyday situations. The findings of the research are expected to be relevant to a range of stakeholders including fellow scientists, policy officials, charitable organisations, industry bodies, consumer groups, and the general public. As part of the fellowship, the findings will therefore be disseminated through a number of outlets including academic journal articles and conferences, executive summaries, policy events, media articles, and the project website.