Are Animals Rational?

Do animals have the use of reason? 

research has shown that animals can remember specific events, use tools and solve problems. But exactly what that means – whether they are making rational decisions or simply reacting to their environment through mindless reflex – remains a matter of scientific dispute.

Cameron Buckner, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Houston, argues in an article published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research that a wide range of animal species exhibit so-called “executive control” when it comes to making decisions, consciously considering their goals and ways to satisfy those goals before acting.

There are many examples of animals using what appears to be rational decision-making:

Jacob Beck (2012) relies on pigeons’ abilities to compare quantities to argue for nonconceptual content; Sidney Carls-Diamante (forthcoming) appeals to octopus behavior and physiology to defend embodied cognition; Richard Moore (2016a) refers to ape gestural communication to rethink the requirements for intentional communication; Andrew Barron and Colin Klein (2016) appeal to insect cognition research to defend new theories of consciousness; Sarah Vincent, Rebecca Ring, and Kristin Andrews (2019) cite dolphins’ social practices to argue for the existence of norms that do not require metacognition.

In addition, philosophers of animal cognition can examine the epistemology and methods used to justify the claims that arise from the science. Research into animal cognition has resulted in surprising claims about animal capacities, such as sociality in garter snakes (Skinner & Miller 2020), tool-use in ants (Maák et al. 2017), mirror self-recognition in fish (Kohda et al. 2019), empathy in rats (Bartal et al. 2011), social learning in fruit flies (Danchin et al. 2018), episodic memory in dogs (Fugazza et al. 2020), addition and subtraction in bees (Howard et al. 2019). How should we evaluate such claims?

If animals have the use of reason, as St. Thomas avers, then Catholic theology has a problem. Catholic theology specifically says only human beings, angels and God have the use of reason. Because humans have the use of reason, the fall of humanity requires sacraments be applied to human beings for their salvation.

But, if animals can reason, then the brokenness of reality means animals are in peril of hell via their immortal rational souls. That is, if animals have immortal rational souls, animals can go to hell (yes, even dogs can go to hell). So animals ALSO need sacraments. But no liturgical Christian denomination has ever applied sacraments to animals. From the non-liturgical, Protestant perspective, animals cannot read, they cannot proclaim with their mouths that Jesus is Lord, they cannot know Jesus through Scripture, and thus they cannot fulfill the conditions necessary for Protestant salvation either. 

If animals can reason, if animals have rational souls, then all animals go to hell.