Citation

Author Website

https://www.animalmetacognition.com/home

Commentary Type

Open Commentary

Thread

David M. Peña-Guzmán, Can nonhuman animals commit suicide?

Abstract

David Peña-Guzmán presents two arguments against the view that because only humans have free will only humans can commit suicide: (1) nonhuman animals may possess free will, and (2) the libertarian notion of free will is incompatible with scientific explanation. The free will objection to animal suicide is indeed mistaken, but Peña-Guzmán’s criticism of the libertarian notion of free will seems misplaced. His target should instead be the assumption that free choices must be made consciously or self-reflectively or the assumption that freedom cannot come in degrees.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Sabina Schrynemakers is an independent scholar who writes on philosophy of animals with a special interest in moral freedom and ethics. Website

DOI

10.51291/2377-7478.1693