Conceiving of Animal Thought? Some Attempts in Ancient and Medieval India

Session 4: To Kill or Not to Kill?
Moderator: Antoine Lilti (Collège de France)

Abstract

Philosophers of ancient and medieval India agree that animals perceive and are capable of experiencing pleasure and pain: in the Indian debate over the legitimacy of animal sacrifice, even defenders of ritual violence have sought to justify the victim’s suffering without denying it. Did they, however, acknowledge the existence of genuine animal thought? Did they recognize in animals self-awareness, the ability to reason, and the capacity to imagine? How did they seek to distinguish these faculties from those of human beings? And how did they grapple with the difficulty of conceiving of non-human thought?