According to Descartes, animals have no consciousness at all. They are like machines, and feel no pain.
Of course, it is absurd, as we know they feel pain for exactly the same reason we know people feel pain. When you poke a man with a pointy stick, he engages in pain-behavior, the same as a dog. So Descartes was being idiotic. Which he was being for religious reasons (he was Catholic).
So, what you are going to hear will depend on what Christian tradition a person is telling you about.
Of course, it is absurd, as we know they feel pain for exactly the same reason we know people feel pain. When you poke a man with a pointy stick, he engages in pain-behavior, the same as a dog. So Descartes was being idiotic. Which he was being for religious reasons (he was Catholic).
So, what you are going to hear will depend on what Christian tradition a person is telling you about.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
