The notion of 'sentience'—the ability to feel emotions and perceive one's environment subjectively—is expanding rapidly. In 2025, this concept now includes not just mammals and birds, but also cephalopods like octopuses and crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters, which are recognized for their capacity to feel pain and well-being based on their experiences.
Astrid Guillaume, a semiotician and lecturer at Sorbonne University, notes that the term 'sentience' has been used in the UK since the early 19th century by scholars to describe the experiences of the most 'evolved' animals. Sentience represents a middle ground between sensitivity—shared by many living beings, including sponges and plants—and consciousness, which is generally considered unique to humans and great apes.
The term gained traction in the late 20th century among neurobiologists, ethologists, and animal rights activists. British biologist Donald Broom formalized the concept in his 2014 book, 'Sentience and Animal Welfare.' Despite its growing recognition, there has been resistance in France, where attempts to include 'sentience' in the French Academy dictionary were rejected in 2015 and deemed 'not relevant' by the French Veterinary Academy in 2018.
The legacy of Descartes, who viewed animals as machines incapable of feeling pain, has hindered progress in recognizing animal intelligence and emotions. Contemporary concerns about the implications of acknowledging sentience are also prevalent, as some fear it could support arguments for equality between humans and animals.
However, if recognized legally, the concept of sentience could provoke economic, political, and philosophical revolutions in our treatment of animals. The term has begun to enter common language, even making its way into the Larousse dictionary in 2020, reflecting changing attitudes towards our relationship with living beings and the environment.
Moreover, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AIs like ChatGPT, have sparked discussions about the potential for 'sentient machines.' Anthropologist Emmanuel Grimaud emphasizes that exploring sentience now involves not only studying the evolution of life but also engaging with technologies that blur the lines between the living and non-living, sensitive and insensate, cognitive and non-cognitive.
As the exploration of sentience continues, it opens up fruitful research avenues that challenge hierarchies among beings and question what enables an entity not just to feel, but to truly sense.