Abstract

ABSTRACT The recent affective turn in the sciences and humanities has substantially impacted upon human perception of other animals. This article begins with a brief discussion of the affective turn as it relates to animals’ experiential (vs reflective) consciousness. Then, building on previous work on animal spirituality, it explores the psychobiological significance of spirituality for animals. Spirituality in this context is defined as exchange with agencies in the environment, whereby agency is understood as any phenomenon, event, etc., that has an effect on the animal regardless of whether or not the phenomenon has independent agency. Specifically, the article aims to establishing whether a previously proposed essentiality of such spiritual exchanges, and the comparison of the latter with other organismic necessities (e.g., food), is warranted, and the ensuing ethical implications.

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