ANIMAL CONSCIOUSNESS: NEUROLOGICAL, MORPHOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to carry out an investigation about conceptions in which there is an understanding that consciousness, in some way, extends to non-human animals. Its assumption is that there are very significant ethical implications by understanding that nonhuman animals are conscious. In this work, we will approach arguments that are based on neuronal, morphological and evolutionary aspects, which have the scope of sustaining the existence of consciousness in non-human animals. Such arguments arise from several areas and merge philosophy, neurology and ethology in the perception of several sources of reasoning for the defense of some form of consciousness in non-human animals.