Early philosophy of animal consciousness Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was a French mathematician and scientist widely regarded as the father of modern philosophy, and perhaps best known for his observation, “cogito ergo sum,” or, “I think, therefore I am.” What may have seemed like an obvious statement actually had a major effect on the way we view subject/object relationships, including our own relationship to wild and domestic animals. When Descartes confidently asserted that all animals besides humans were void of the capacity to feel pain or emotion, we were still a ways off from formal behavioral studies of animals or humans. Yet many still wondered about the mental capacities of animals, and whether or not they truly lacked “thinking souls,” as he had suggested. In trying to determine whether or not animals had souls, or capacity to reason, Descartes settled on a term for wildlife and domestic creatures, calling them “animalia automata,” which basically means mindless robot....
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