The problem of animal consciousness is beginning to occupy a fundamental position among scientific and ethical studies of consciousness.

In science, this is due to recognizing the basic essence of consciousness not as a linguistic phenomenon unique to humans, but as a much wider range of subjective states spread across vast domains of the animal kingdom. This removes humans from their pedestal of the privileged owners of conscious experience and changes the agenda for the science of consciousness. The fundamental understanding of consciousness will have to cover all sentient forms in the same way that the fundamental understanding of heredity covers all living forms.

In ethics, this would inevitably lead to a critical shift in the society’s understanding of animal sentience and will profoundly change public policy regarding animal suffering, treatment and protection.

Today, these crucial issues are being studied by a still rather disparate circle of biologists, behavioral scientists, ecologists, comparative psychologists, neuroscientists and philosophers who do not often come together, being tied to their own professional communities and their traditional conferences. The goal of this website and its conferences is to set the stage for a more coherent interdisciplinary meetings in the field of animal consciousness research.