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What did Jeremy Bentham mean by asking whether animals can suffer?

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Three PETA protesters in animal masks and green clothing hold signs reading No Fur at a demonstration against fur in clothing at a shopping district in Seoul, South Korea. — Animal rights A PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) demonstration in Seoul, South Korea, against the use of animals for fur in clothing.

By asking, "The question is not, Can they reason?, nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?", Jeremy Bentham challenged the traditional criteria used to determine which beings deserve moral consideration.1

As the founder of modern utilitarianism, Bentham argued that the capacity to experience pleasure and pain is the fundamental basis for morality. By shifting the focus away from cognitive abilities like language or rationality—which were often used to exclude animals from moral concern—Bentham established that sentience is the key factor.231

In this ethical framework, if a being can suffer, its interests must be taken into account when evaluating the morality of an action. This perspective implies that humans have a moral obligation to minimize or avoid causing suffering to animals, just as they would for other humans, because the ability to feel pain makes an animal a subject of moral concern.1