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+--- Thread: Wyoming Fishery Scientist Offers A Counterpoint (/showthread.php?tid=792573)
Wyoming Fishery Scientist Offers A Counterpoint - FishNews - 01-17-2013
The problem with the studies of crabs is the same problem that has been present in studies claiming to show pain in fish. These studies have used the presence of a response that is "more than a reflex" in response to a presumably noxious stimulus as proof of pain. As we describe in the paper "Can fish really feel pain?" the "more than a reflex" criterion is completely invalid as a means of identifying a response reflecting pain. Authors using this criterion never define what they mean by a "reflex" or what is not and don't recognize the fact that there are a great many complex, unconscious responses to noxious stimuli that don't represent conscious, pain-elicited behaviors. In addition, because a great variety of behaviors that are more than simple reflexes are likely to result from noxious stimuli, this criterion constitutes the logical fallacy of a false duality in which interpretations are forced to favor conclusions that a behavior reflected pain when it actually didn't.
James D. Rose, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus<br />
Department of Zoology and Physiology and Neuroscience Program<br />
University of Wyoming<br />
Laramie, WY 82071<br />
USA<br />
e-mail: trout@uwyo.edu