Les animaux sont-ils conscients ? Oui, répond la science.
19 AVRIL 2024 : 12 ans après la célèbre Déclaration de Cambridge sur la conscience, un large collectif de scientifiques internationaux publie une Déclaration de New-York sur la conscience animale. Cette Déclaration souligne que, malgré les incertitudes qui demeurent, la conscience des animaux fait l’objet d’un vaste consensus scientifique. Elle nous appelle à prendre en considération le fait que beaucoup d’animaux sont conscients d’eux-mêmes lorsque nous prenons des décisions qui les concernent ou les affectent.
Si quelqu’un vous affirme un jour que les animaux ne sont pas conscients, invitez-le à mettre à jour ses connaissances ! En effet, douze ans après la célèbre Déclaration de Cambridge sur la conscience, une nouvelle déclaration scientifique a été publiée en avril dernier par l’université de New-York. Elle est soutenue par plus de 200 chercheurs – biologistes, éthologues, vétérinaires, neurologues – à travers le monde, émanant des Universités de Barcelone, Padoue, Oxford, Sydney, San Francisco, Moscou ou encore Paris, par exemple, et tient en trois paragraphes essentiels :
Ainsi, cette nouvelle déclaration dépasse le cadre de la Déclaration de Cambridge en incluant désormais les reptiles, les amphibiens et les poissons dans la liste des animaux considérés comme conscients. Autre nouveauté : elle appelle aussi le monde politique à se souvenir que beaucoup d’animaux sont conscients d’eux-mêmes lorsque des décisions qui les concernent ou les affectent sont prises.
Cet appel à la responsabilité sera-t-il entendu ? Changera-t-il la vie des innombrables animaux vivant dans les laboratoires ou les élevages, ou mourant par milliards dans les filets de pêche et les abattoirs ?
Signataires :
Kristin Andrews
Professor of Philosophy, York Research Chair in Animal Minds
York University
Jonathan Birch
Professor of Philosophy
London School of Economics and Political Science
Jeff Sebo
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies; Director of the Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program
New York University
Colin Allen
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
University of California, Santa Barbara
Konstantin Anokhin
Professor, Institute for Advanced Brain Studies
Lomonosov Moscow State University
Culum Brown
Professor, School of Natural Sciences
Macquarie University
Gordon M. Burghardt
Alumni Distinguished Service Professor of Psychology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
David Chalmers
University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science
New York University
Lars Chittka
Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology
Queen Mary University of London
Nicola S. Clayton FRS
Professor of Comparative Cognition
University of Cambridge
Robyn Crook
Associate Professor of Biology
San Francisco State University
David Edelman
Visiting Scholar
Dartmouth College
Robert Elwood
Emeritus Professor of Animal Behaviour
Queen’s University Belfast
Becca Franks
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
New York University
Matilda Gibbons
Postdoctoral Researcher, Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
Martin Giurfa
Exceptional-Class Professor of Neurosciences
Sorbonne University
Peter Godfrey-Smith
Professor, School of History and Philosophy of Science
University of Sydney
Simona Ginsburg
Associate Professor of Neurobiology (Retired)
Open University of Israel
Stevan Harnad
Professor
Université du Québec à Montréal
Eva Jablonka
Emeritus Professor, History and Philosophy of Science
Tel Aviv University
Christof Koch
President and Chief Scientist
Allen Institute for Brain Science
Jon Mallatt
Clinical Professor, WWAMI Medical Education Program
University of Washington at the University of Idaho
Jennifer Mather
Professor of Psychology
University of Lethbridge
Noam Miller
Associate Professor of Psychology and Biology
Wilfrid Laurier University
Liad Mudrik
Professor, School Of Psychological Sciences
Tel Aviv University
Lucia Melloni
Research Professor of Neurology
New York University School of Medicine
Diana Reiss
Professor of Psychology; Director of the Animal Behavior & Conservation MA Program
Hunter College
Irene M. Pepperberg
Research Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Boston University
Alexandra Schnell
Research Fellow
University of Cambridge
Anil Seth
Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience
University of Sussex
MV (Srini) Srinivasan FRS
Emeritus Professor, Queensland Brain Institute
The University of Queensland
Narayanan Srinivasan
Professor, Department of Cognitive Science
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi
Scientist
Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru
Bruno van Swinderen
Professor, Queensland Brain Institute
The University of Queensland
Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Professor, School of Psychological Sciences
Monash University
Cleo Verkuijl
Scientist
Stockholm Environment Institute
Anna Wilkinson
Senior Lecturer, School of Life Sciences
University of Lincoln
Katrina Wyman
Wilf Family Professor of Property Law; Director of the Environmental and Energy Law LLM Program
New York University School of Law
Yossi Yovel
Associate Professor, School of Zoology, Sagol School of Neuroscience
Tel Aviv University
Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal
Assistant Professor of Psychobiology and Neuroscience
Tel-Aviv University
Charles Beasley
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
LUISS in Rome
Dorna Behdadi
Lecturer of Philosophy, Linguistics & Theory of Science
University of Gothenburg
Heather Browning
Lecturer in Philosophy
University of Southampton
Stephen R. L. Clark
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
University of Liverpool
Andrew Crump
Lecturer in Animal Cognition & Welfare
Royal Veterinary College
Mike Dacey
Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy
Bates College
Nicolas Delon
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
College of Charleston
Leonard Dung
Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research
University Erlangen-Nürnberg
Nathan Faivre
Research Director, National Centre for Scientific Research
Université Grenoble Alpes
Andrew Fenton
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Dalhousie University
Josh A. Firth
Associate Professor of Behavioural Ecology
University of Leeds, UK
Bob Fischer
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Texas State University
Brian Glenney
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Norwich University
Cleo Grieve
Postgraduate Researcher, Institute of Aquaculture
University of Stirling
Jes Lynning Harfeld
Associate Professor, Department of Culture and Learning, Centre for Applied Philosophy
Aalborg University
Avram Hiller
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Portland State University
Kristina M. Horback
Associate Professor, Applied Ethology
University of California, Davis
L. Syd M Johnson
Associate Professor, Center for Bioethics & Humanities
Upstate Medical University
Angelica Kaufmann
Post Doctoral Researcher, Department of Philosophy
University of Milan
Barbara J. King
Professor Emerita of Anthropology
William & Mary
Johannes Kleiner
Postdoctoral Researcher, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Mirjam Knörnschild
Professor of Evolutionary Ethology
Humboldt University of Berlin
Michael J. Kuba
Assistant Professor of Zoology
Department of Biology
University of Naples Federico II
Lori Marino
Adjunct Professor, Animal Studies
New York University
Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró
Postdoctoral Biologist, Goffin Lab, Messerli Research Institute
University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
Georgia Mason
Professor of Integrative Biology, Col. K. L. Campbell University Chair in Animal Welfare,
Director of the Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare
University of Guelph
Josh Milburn
Lecturer in Political Philosophy, Department of International Relations, Politics and History
Loughborough University
Albert Newen
Full professor of Philosophy
Institut für Philosophie II Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Leanne Proops
Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour and Welfare
University of Portsmouth
Michael J. Renner
Professor of Biology, Psychology, and Environmental Science
Drake University
Luke Roelofs
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Texas, Arlington
Nissa Rudh
Fish Biologist, NOAA Fisheries
U.S. Department of Commerce
Carl Sachs
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Marymount University
Mark Sainsbury
Jesse H. Jones Professor in Liberal Arts
University of Texas at Austin
Murray Shanahan
Professor of Cognitive Robotics
Imperial College London
Henry Shevlin
Associate Director, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence
University of Cambridge
Adam Shriver
The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement
Drake University
Toni Sims
Researcher in Mind, Ethics, and Policy
New York University
Martyna Stachaczyk
Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Philosophy Logic and Scientific Method
London School of Economics
Morten Tønnessen
Professor of Philosophy
University of Stavanger, Norway
Antonella Tramacere
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
RomaTre University
Cameron Rouse Turner
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Computational Cognitive Science Lab
Princeton University
Walter Veit
Lecturer in Philosophy
University of Reading
Elly Vintiadis
Associate Lecturer, Philosophy
The American College of Greece