All Cells Are Sentient?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:21 pm
Today, that utilitarian friend (https://theveganatheist.com/forum/viewt ... tuck#p8435), who I haven't spoken as often with recently, came up to me while I was in the library, and pretty quickly brought up veganism.
"You're vegan for ethical reasons, right?"
It's funny, people always remember veganism.
I try not to talk about it that much, because I don't want to reinforce preachy-vegan stereotypes, but people always seem to remember that.
So we started talking about it, and he said that he encountered a girl who wasn't a vegetarian because she thought all cells were sentient.
At first, I dismissed it because I thought sentience requires the ability to perceive pain, and cells don't have a central nervous system. However, the definition of sentience doesn't require that (and I don't think it should, because it would mean probably bugs and possibly fish aren't sentient).
So then I said they aren't sentient because they don't have emotions.
"But how do you know they don't have emotions?"
I told him that I really wasn't aware of the science behind emotions, but that every biology professor would dispute that as absurd.
I also mentioned that, even if you grant the idea that cells are all sentient, that because animals are fed plants their entire lives, that killing animals for food causes more harm than killing plants directly, and he accepted that.
I didn't think of this at the time, but I could've also mentioned that we know animals are sentient and feel pain, while we have no reason to believe cells are sentient and that we know they don't feel pain.
Anyway, can anyone explain why cells aren't sentient?
I know it seems ridiculous, but as he pointed out to me, you can't dismiss something just because it seems ridiculous.
"You're vegan for ethical reasons, right?"
It's funny, people always remember veganism.
I try not to talk about it that much, because I don't want to reinforce preachy-vegan stereotypes, but people always seem to remember that.
So we started talking about it, and he said that he encountered a girl who wasn't a vegetarian because she thought all cells were sentient.
At first, I dismissed it because I thought sentience requires the ability to perceive pain, and cells don't have a central nervous system. However, the definition of sentience doesn't require that (and I don't think it should, because it would mean probably bugs and possibly fish aren't sentient).
So then I said they aren't sentient because they don't have emotions.
"But how do you know they don't have emotions?"
I told him that I really wasn't aware of the science behind emotions, but that every biology professor would dispute that as absurd.
I also mentioned that, even if you grant the idea that cells are all sentient, that because animals are fed plants their entire lives, that killing animals for food causes more harm than killing plants directly, and he accepted that.
I didn't think of this at the time, but I could've also mentioned that we know animals are sentient and feel pain, while we have no reason to believe cells are sentient and that we know they don't feel pain.
Anyway, can anyone explain why cells aren't sentient?
I know it seems ridiculous, but as he pointed out to me, you can't dismiss something just because it seems ridiculous.