CHAPTER

Evolution and animal minds

ten

Humans are animals, so any question about human consciousness is also a ques-
tion about the animal kingdom as a whole. If there is such a thing as human con-
sciousness, when, why, and how did it come into being, and was the same true for
any other animals? It is easy to assume a gradient of consciousness with humans
at the top and simple organisms off the bottom of the scale, but whether this is
right or wrong has serious implications for how we treat other creatures, as well
as for how we understand our own consciousness. This chapter will introduce the
basics of evolutionary theory as a foundation on which to ask about the evolu-
tion of consciousness (the what-it’s-like) in different species, asking where their
forms of consciousness may be similar to ours, and where they differ, and what
that may mean.

MINDLESS DESIGN

Suppose you are walking along a deserted sandy beach when you come across
a magnificent pile of sand. At each corner is a square tower, decorated with rows
of shells, and all round is a moat with a flat stone for a bridge, neatly attached to
threads of seaweed for pulling it up. What will you conclude? It’s a sandcastle of
course. And somebody must have built it.

When we see obvious signs of design, we readily infer a designer. This, in essence,
is the ‘argument from design’, made famous in 1802 by the Reverend William
Paley. He supposed that, crossing a heath, he found either a stone or a watch. For
the stone, he could conclude that it had always been there, but for the watch he
must conclude that it had a maker. All the parts are ingeniously linked to serve the

‘There cannot be design

without a designer’

(Paley, 1802, p. 3)