Animal Sentience
August 3, 2026
Jon Mallatt
Mather (2019) presents convincing evidence that octopuses have minds, but in the first 85% of the target article, the evidence does not come through very clearly because it is hidden by other information and by problems with the paper’s organization. I propose ways to build a tighter argument in the author’s Response to the Commentaries.
Journal of Research in Education and Pedagogy.
August 3, 2026
Mengkorn Pum
Student well-being has been recognized as an essential factor in educational success. It has been found to impact academic performance, emotional, social, and cognitive enhancement. The current study examines how a 15-week classroom intervention integrating gamified learning, weekly reflection, and one-minute silent mindfulness affects students’ subjective well-being. The intervention was...
Animal Sentience
August 3, 2026
Mark Rowlands
Several types of objection have been raised against the arguments I presented in my target article, “Are animals persons?” Among the objections are the following: (1) the claim that animals are persons is of little significance, (2) my use of the Lockean conception of the person is questionable, (3) whether a creature qualifies as a person is a matter of social construction rather than...
AI for Society
August 3, 2026
Joseph D. Kuzma
Contemporary artificial intelligence systems present themselves through the aesthetic of openness: a clean interface, a blinking cursor, an implicit invitation to bring whatever one wishes. This essay argues that this appearance conceals a structural inversion. Drawing on phenomenological philosophy, particularly the work of Simone Weil, Jean-Luc Marion, Jacques Derrida, Henri Bergson, and...
Animal Sentience
August 3, 2026
Arthur S. Reber
The commentaries by Calvo (2018) and Mallatt & Feinberg (2017) on my 2016 target branch out from a common conceptual node like forks in a road. Calvo criticizes me for not acknowledging that plants too are likely to be sentient and claims I have fallen into the kind of category error of which I accuse others ─ a zoocentric bias that fails to grant consciousness to flora. Mallatt & Feinberg...
Animal Sentience
August 3, 2026
Brian Key, Deborah J Brown
Mikhalevich & Powell argue that the exclusion of the vast majority of arthropods from moral standing is unwarranted, particularly given the purported evidence for cognition and sentience in these organisms. The implied association between consciousness and moral standing is questionable and their assumption that rich forms of cognition and flexible behavior are dependent on phenomenal...
August 3, 2026
Vanessa L. Cha
This chapter examines the complex relationship between unusual psychological phenomena, mental illness categorizations, and spiritual transformation. Drawing on research from meditation studies, neuroscience, and first-person experience, the author investigates how experiences that might be classified as psychiatric symptoms in isolation can potentially be reframed and integrated when...
Addiction
August 3, 2026
Mathieu Seynaeve, Fiona Dunbar, Anna O. Ermakova et al.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This study qualitatively explored psychological change processes as described by participants and therapists within a phase 2a clinical trial evaluating the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of a single dose of intranasal 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT; BPL-003) administered alongside psychological support and manualised cognitive behavioural...
Animal Sentience
August 3, 2026
Andrew Y. Lee
This commentary is about whether sentience, or what philosophers call “phenomenal consciousness,” comes in degrees.
Animal Sentience
August 3, 2026
Jennifer Mather
Because cephalopods are so different from the vertebrate lineage, their possible consciousness must be assessed on the basis of their heritage and abilities. Cephalopods have evolved in water, a denser medium than air, and their perception is adapted to it. They have inherited the molluscan mantle cavity and hydrostatic muscle type, which has led to a more distributed motor control system...