To be sure, we cannot know what it is like to be a cat. Nor can we know what it is like to be another human being. Yet we rightly think that someone who believes other human beings are unfeeling machines has a mental illness, whereas philosophers such as Descartes who thought the same of other animals have been feted as sages. In fact the inner world of cats may be more lucid and vivid than our own. Their senses are sharper and their waking attention unclouded by dreams. The absence of a self-image may make their experiences more intense.
