The whole problem, in this debate, comes from the fact that we are still Cartesian, still won over to the idea, however absurd, that animals are only sophisticated machines.
According to Descartes, they would be nothing but automatons devoid of consciousness and affectivity, nature acting in them
"according to the arrangement of their organs as we see only a clock, which is composed only of wheels and of springs, can count the hours and measure the time more accurately than we can with all our prudence.”
We would therefore have no duty towards the “beasts”, any more than towards a clod of earth or a piece of wood.
Yet, if Descartes were right, obviously the question of their well-being would never have occurred to anyone.
However, even those who are less concerned about the animal cause still feel, especially if they have a dog or a cat at home, a feeling of obligation.
Obviously, animals belong to an order of the real which is neither that of stone...
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