In this short piece, Manu Herrán sumarizes two sets of proposals to address the problem of sentience, three mechanisms to show if an individual feels (the resemblance, the best possible explanation and Phenomenal Puzzles) and two ways to check if a theory of sentience is correct or not.
“It is common to ask: how can sentience (the ability to feel) be demonstrated? The question has several interpretations and nuances. On the one hand, whoever asks this question may be pointing out the difficulty of making predictions and obtaining evidence; In short, the difficulty of using the scientific method in the matter of sentience. But, as this article explains, there are many things we can do to address the issue of sentience in the most scientific way possible.
The question can also refer to a specific individual: how to know if an individual feels or not ?; Or it can refer to theories about sentience: what is the correct theory? How can we prove it?”