Who is Conscious?: A Guide to the Minds of Animals

by Marian Dawkins

160 pages, Hardcover

Published November 25, 2025

Reviews

[Leela]

Mixed thoughts on this. Well written, clear, easy to get through. Nicely laid out as an overview of what we know about consciousness, and the point-by-point discussion of different perspectives appeals to my critical brain. However, the author, despite saying earlier on that it's up to you if you want to be a Dualist, concludes by saying you shouldn't be (which just seems a bit rude) – and, more importantly, takes a bit too much of a pro-science stand when it comes to questions about ethics (odd considering her background in welfare). She seems to argue that animal welfare decisions that are based on inconclusive evidence around consciousness will do more harm than good, can even be "anti-science". The NY Declaration on Animal Consciousness, which she specifically targets, says: "[W]hen there is a realistic possibility of conscious experience in an animal, it is irresponsible to ignore that possibility in decisions affecting that animal. We should consider welfare risks and use the evidence to inform our responses to these risks." This seems laudable and, also given the signatories, not anti-science! Having this kind of baseline is important for ensuring that we're causing less harm than if we assumed otherwise and allowing policies to be implemented. I do appreciate that you don't want scientific questioning to be quashed by suggestions that we have enough evidence of animal consciousness when the opposite is true, but equally ethics and philosophy are fundamental to the questions we pose and framing them so negatively made the conclusion of the book feel more spiteful than anything.
That aside though, I overall enjoyed the book and it provides an important summary of what we know, and don't know.

[Staky]

Dosta suvoparno, plus ne slažem se sa mišljenjem autorke.

[yana]

What on Earth.

I'm paraphrasing the quotes from memory because I don't own a copy of the book.

The 'giving other life forms the benefit of the doubt for consciousness isn't very scientific' academic who nevertheless gives AI and machines the benefit of the doubt for consciousness with a 'who's to say!' paragraph in the opening chapter.

Stamp Dawkins makes a lot of unfounded claims of policy and social attitudes causation without references or while completely ignoring her own examples. The introduction is entirely dedicated to the argument that 'insisting animals are conscious comes from a place of wanting to improve their welfare but there isn't actually a real connection between saying animals don't have consciousness and any negative impacts on their welfare' immediately after giving an example of how the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness impacted animal welfare law. Of course there's no studies regarding social attitudes towards animal welfare, pesticides/insecticides, land conservation, etc referenced at all. Take the author's word for it, who's to say it isn't true.

Overall, this is a book that showcases the author's deeply shortsighted philosophy of science and her skills as a rhetorician in defending an outdated worldview.

It confuses me to no end to see scientists with so little awareness of the limitations of their philosophy and how that directly feeds into our crisis of anti-science sentiment and overall climate crisis.