Sentience

Sentience means "having sensory perception". However, sentience is often equated to "having consciousness"; i.e., saying that something is sentient indicates that it is aware in an approximately human-like manner of what it is sensing.

The sentience or non-sentience of animal species is a matter of debate, especially among animal rights activists and philosophers. The issue of sentience also frequently arises in science fictional contexts.

In the Mahayana form of Buddhism, sentience is traditionally considered a requirement for a being to possess buddha nature.