Sentience
Discussion
The Three Attributes That Enable Sentience in Human Beings:
#1. A brain of adequate complexity to enable an understanding of language.
#2. A voice box complex enough for speech.
#3. Hands with opposable thumbs for recording and preserving language.
Many species have two of these attributes. Humans have all three. ㅤ
Do you not think a dog is reasoning when he responds to the beep sound coming from his collar warning him not to keep moving towards the edge of the property? He has to think back to his past experiences, associate the sound with the eventual zap, and then reason whether or not the zap is worth investigating the target of his attention
Honestly I agree with your core point about language and it’s deeply intertwined relationship with intelligence, but I’m not sure I agree with your less important points about written language - the obvious chicken and egg in that scenario is the spoken language coming long before the written language - I doubt you’d call humans from 5,000 years ago “non-sentient” just because they didn’t write down their language
Do you remember that meme that made the rounds a year or two ago about certain people being unable to visualize (e.g. an apple) in their “mind’s eye”? I made a post on the theme, about how if your language lacks a word for an apple, you will be fundamentally unable to conjure one to your mind, though I can’t find it in the pile right now lol
My two cats I owned as a child (mother and daughter) were hyper intelligent and highly empathetic. Yet none the less, them as with dogs, I consider to be sentient to a lesser degree, possessing lesser souls. This in no way should be seen as a slight against them, as a black bear also has a lesser soul, yet demands your respect.