« Animals Also Obey to Religion »
The recent Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness of July 2012, which proclaims that animals have conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviour, ask one more time the question : what is specific to the human species ? This paper addresses the Amerindian conception of animal condition through a case study of the Kaingang of Brazil and specifically their concept of masters of the animals. The relation of the human beings with the animals and plants is thought and acted by the Kaingang as involving a hierarchy of powers, more precisely, confrontation and/or pooling of the potencies or the powers humans as well as non-humans via the mediation of spirit-masters. The latter concept is related to a conception widely spread in the Americas. The paper presents in conclusion a brief comparative analysis of a few South American cases.