The Art Of Racing In The Rain Analysis

Words: 454
Pages: 2

Animals Are Unconscious
Animals are unconscious because they have different brain wiring compared to humans, only thrive on survival instincts and are incapable of feeling emotions. Firstly, animals do not have consciousness because their brains are built differently than humans. Mammals are the only animals born with a prefrontal cortex in their brain and the size of it increases as you go higher through evolution (Mitchell). In addition, the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that controls alertness and consciousness. Due to no animal except humans having a large and developed prefrontal cortex, nonhuman animals are incapable of being conscious (Grossmann). This also relates to the novel The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein
…show more content…
If the tiger was conscious, he would have at least bid farewell to a person he spent several months with. Richard Parker would also have felt an emotional connection to Pi, however, in reality, he never had the skills to appreciate a human; he was only doing what he needed to do in order to survive (Devitt). Lastly, animals do not have consciousness because they can not feel emotions. Every time an animal is supposedly feeling an emotion, there is actually just a biological sensation that they experience instead of the emotion. For example, a Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered that “a chastised dog cowering in a corner isn’t feeling fear: He’s actually exhibiting a reflexive behavior triggered by a stimulus” (Coombs). This proves that all “emotions” felt by animals are in fact a variety of biological reactions. This also means that animals do not feel emotions because every time they are faced with a stimulating situation, their bodies are simply reacting to what they see. If an animal can not feel emotion, they are also not conscious because both qualities only occur simultaneously (Bekoff). In conclusion, animals do not have consciousness because they don’t possess developed prefrontal cortices, only follow their survival instincts