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ARE FISH CONSCIOUS? Studies described in chapter 4 of Do Fish Feel Pain? by Victoria Braithwaite

ARE FISH CONSCIOUS? Studies described in chapter 4 of Do Fish Feel Pain? by Victoria Braithwaite. Braithwaite Distinguishes 3 Kinds of Consciousness*. Mental representation Emotions, feeling Self-consciousness.

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ARE FISH CONSCIOUS? Studies described in chapter 4 of Do Fish Feel Pain? by Victoria Braithwaite

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  1. ARE FISH CONSCIOUS? Studies described in chapter 4 of Do Fish Feel Pain? by Victoria Braithwaite

  2. Braithwaite Distinguishes 3 Kinds of Consciousness* • Mental representation • Emotions, feeling • Self-consciousness FOOD FOR THOUGHT – What about Carruthers’s distinction between conscious and non-conscious experience? How would HE respond to this chapter?

  3. EVIDENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (MENTAL REPRESENTATION) The Spanish Goldfish Study

  4. EVIDENCE OF CONSIOUSNESS (MENTAL REPRESENTATION) Stanford Cichlid Study • You are looking down on two tanks in a room. Sylvester can see the other fish, who fight a lot. • A wins over B • B wins over C • C wins over D • D wins over E • Does Sylvester notice all of this? Can he makes this deduction? • A would win over E • B would win over D

  5. EVIDENCE OF CONSIOUSNESS (MENTAL REPRESENTATION) Stanford Cichlid Study To answer, researchers tested out who Sylvester preferred to fight with. They transferred different fish into the two ends of Sylvester’s tank. Background fact: Goldfish like to fight AND like to win.

  6. EVIDENCE OF CONSIOUSNESS (MENTAL REPRESENTATION) Stanford Cichlid Study • SYLVESTER FIGHTS WITH E, NOT A • He must have mentally represented-- • A wins over B • B wins over C • C wins over D • D wins over E • He must have deduced • A would win over E • E is more easily trounced • Better for me to fight with E HE SWIMS TO E

  7. EVIDENCE OF CONSIOUSNESS (MENTAL REPRESENTATION) Stanford Cichlid Study • SYLVESTER FIGHTS WITH D, NOT B • He must have represented • A wins over B • B wins over C • C wins over D • He must have deduced • B would win over D • D is more easily trounced • Better for me to fight with D HE SWIMS TO D

  8. EVIDENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (EMOTION) Belfast Trout Socialization Study You are looking down on four tanks in a room. The trout tolerates the shocks, to be near other trout. The goldfish avoids the shocks.

  9. EVIDENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (EMOTION) Braithwaite Lego Tower Study Now you are looking at a fish tank from the side. Trout injected with vinegar don’t avoid novel objects. When they are given morphine, they do avoid novel objects. Best explanation, according to Braithwaite: the vinegar causes suffering, the morphine relieves it.

  10. EVIDENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS (SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS) Cooperative hunting She defines this as "the experience of thinking about your own actions, being able to mentally consider different possible scenarios and then modify your decisions on how to act if necessary." (p. 106) We will reconsider how to define self-consciousness next week. CLICK ON PHOTO TO SEE VIDEO

  11. FOOD FOR THOUGHT On the “Ripple Theory” none of this research provides evidence of conscious experience unless the fish have later thoughts with the right contents. Carruthers would say fish just have unconscious experience. Is there a better theory of the conscious/unconscious line than Carruthers’s? Do fish really make it over the line? UNCONSCIOUS CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE

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