Beth, interesting. Do you feel the reason many animals tend to live by instinct isn't so much because they're limited to it, but rather they are forced to?
What I wonder isn't so much whether animals experience pain, but rather in what sense are they conscious of pain, and what does it mean to them. What I’m saying is that human beings, as social beings, impute meaning to our physiological processes in a way that is denied to non-human animals.

I would also say that Choice is that unique gift humans are blessed with that animals are not. And I don’t mean that a hyena for example does not know when to attack its victim or when to wait. That hyena will only make a choice based on the situation (Is it a good time to hunt? Are there many animals to hunt? Am I in great danger if I hunt? And so on). However, the moral choice is not there; what will this do to the family of my victim? For what reason do I hunt these animals if I can eat grass of vegetables? Why can I not eat vegetables? And so on.

But I would say that animals can be greedy, maybe even have hints of malice. Logic is there at least in bits as why else would a squirrel save nuts for the winter?

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"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."
Isaac Asimov