I've noticed people claiming that this is a real dichotomy at play. Just feels like people who stopped at philosophy 101!
Like, there is a good argument to be made that believing that consciousness, intelligence, etc are distinct, enumerable things "contained" within whatever system you choose in fact makes you much more of a Cartesian than any of the details around soul and body. Presenting even the dilemma this way shows you haven't left the enlightenment at all!
Just if you are interested in this stuff, I would check out what people have thought about since the 1600s. The more you feel like these things are already solved, the more it shows the poverty of your current conceptions around them.
"Descartes denied that animals had reason or intelligence. He argued that animals did not lack sensations or perceptions, but these could be explained mechanistically. Whereas humans had a soul, or mind, and were able to feel pain and anxiety, animals by virtue of not having a soul could not feel pain or anxiety. If animals showed signs of distress then this was to protect the body from damage, but the innate state needed for them to suffer was absent. Although Descartes' views were not universally accepted, they became prominent in Europe and North America, allowing humans to treat animals with impunity. The view that animals were quite separate from humanity and merely machines allowed for the maltreatment of animals, and was sanctioned in law and societal norms until the middle of the 19th century."
These questions are largely metaphysical and philosophical 'advancements' around questions like these are often more of a question of what ideas are fashionable at a given time than they are about old ideas being rendered obsolete/less effective by newer ideas.
Not sure where the GP suggested these questions were "solved."
Like, there is a good argument to be made that believing that consciousness, intelligence, etc are distinct, enumerable things "contained" within whatever system you choose in fact makes you much more of a Cartesian than any of the details around soul and body. Presenting even the dilemma this way shows you haven't left the enlightenment at all!
Just if you are interested in this stuff, I would check out what people have thought about since the 1600s. The more you feel like these things are already solved, the more it shows the poverty of your current conceptions around them.