(refutation of disagreement with 6. I.)
Refutation of claiming that animals are not harmed because they are mindless and so can feel no pain or suffering:
- This crude Cartesian view still persists in some unenlightened minority quarters, although animals show a multitude of behaviours such as avoidance, running, screaming, trembling, etc. in reaction to things we would find painful. They have nervous systems of the kind that enable us to feel pain, and it would make no evolutionary sense not to feel pain for creatures who share similar DNA and a need to avoid harmful objects. People believe that animals feel no pain mainly because they have an interest in being indifferent to their suffering, not out of any pure interest in the truth.