Does the fact that many non-human animals have pituitary disprove Cartesian Dualism?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I can be either an empirical rationalist or a rational empiricist. You choose.

But, given the whole ‘do fish feel pain’ thingy, I’d have to come down on the rationalist side, since there’s no empirical way to know how the fish feels about it.

Boru

Oh, really? The empirical fact that fish with a hole in their fin continue swimming normally doesn't suggest that they don't feel pain? Or the empirical fact that they have little or no type-c neurofibers which human beings need to feel pain?

No, the hole-in-the-fin thing doesn't suggest anything about pain. Due to the presence of nociceptors and the fact that injured fish exhibit behavioural changes that are alleviated with painkillers, it's likely that fish do feel pain.

But we still don't know if what the fish feels is what we mean when we say 'I feel pain'. We can know, empirically, that fish respond to noxious stimuli. But whether this response is the same (from the fish's perspective) as my response when I hit my thumb with a hammer can only be approached rationally, since we can't really ask the fish about it.

Boru