 |
|
|
|
| Animals Can Think And Feel, It's Not Just A Human Ability |
| It is sometimes claimed by "authorities" (teachers, clergy, etc.) that one thing distinguishing humans from animals is we truly think whereas they just rely on instincts. Nonsense. Animals reveal complex thought all the time in how they hunt, find or build shelters, form interrelationships, grieve, even seek entertainment. My cat (now deceased) was smarter than most pre-school children. The goldfish at our local Chinese restaurant not only swims over to look and say hello but rides the bubbles from the tank aeration system over and over for fun. It's human hubris to claim only we can think. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes anyone who has kept an animal knows how they can think and be taught.
They lack the power of speech and other aspects ,depending on which animal we are speaking about.
One thing we share with the great apes is the ability to understand our own reflection. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Sure, why not?.....;-)
I was watching that old 1960's classic today, "Planet Of The Apes" ,with Charlton Heston. Good trip
down amnesia-lane, that;-)
the apes and simians above the humans...lol
kinda makes you look at the whole animal/human thing from an entirely alternative perspective now
doesn't it?...;-) |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Feelings and thoughts. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Zippy has the iQ of a young child she is capable of very distant and vague human speech she can do
more than a human baby can do and she knows how to turn off the TV and computer... It gets
annoying
she otwitts the strange creepy stocker that lives near me and Zippy will often get revenge when she
thinks revenge is needed with proper training and love a dog will obtain human IQ |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
My pets understand when I'm upset or ill, and they'll sit with me and love on me to cheer me up.
Before my father died, our dogs would greet him every day at the door and the bird would chirp as
soon as his car turned the corner at the end of the road (almost half a mile from the house). After
he died, the dogs would sit at the door for hours waiting for him to come home and give either my
mother or I sad looks when he didn't come home. They sense things beyond our perception( a rather
odd example is that about a week after my dad passed away, the bird started chirping at the usual
time, and the dogs ran for the door. Thinking it was the usual ' wait for dad' vigil, I started out
of the back room where my mother and I were sorting some of my dad's stuff out for charity when we
BOTH heard the front door open and the familiar sound of my dad's briefcase being set down, but when
we got out there, there was nobody there, but the dogs were acting excited...just like when my dad
came home.) Animals do feel love, sadness, loneliness, hurt, joy, contentment.
Our old parrot, Ginger, only bit me one time in her entire life and it was when my dad scared her by
moving to fast towards me. My husband believes it was her way of telling me 'danger, get away',
because fast movements never really bothered her and she had been in our family for 40 years and
knew we loved her. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
A lot of current behavioral research suggests the emotional life of many animals is much more
complex than thought in the past. Emotions of course have a strong genetic component, but also
change and evolve within the animal’s life based on the animals experience and interactions. One
of the current theories that really makes sense to me puts forth the idea that emotions are a sort
of hard wired framework for making complex decisions quickly. And when I say animals I include
humans in that definition. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Humans are very egotistical. We classify ourselves as not being animals, even though we have all the
characteristics of a animal which are decided by ourselves, and like to think that were helping
things by killing them but never think hmm maybe our own population is to big and that were going to
die because of it. Yes ,mammals are the most common animal with any emotions, Small animals show
fear, larger animals show anger, cats can even show happiness. Thinking is a bit harder to explain
as it matters how you are defining it. The definition meaning able to use logical reason to find
solution in a problem is quite common in animals. When a animal sees a rock in it path does it just
walk into the rock for several moments until it dies? No it figures out that to get past the rock it
must go aroudn it or over it. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
It's clear that animals can display some emotions we normally associated with humans. I remember
once when I was young my dog chased after a cat at the other end of the street. The cat saw the dog
coming and completely froze. It was a crazy reaction because the dog was 50m or so away and the cat
could have got away easily just by running or even strolling. Instead, it froze totally as the dog
ran all the way up to it. I was chasing the dog to try and stop it doing anything to the cat. But
when I got there, the dog wasn't attacking the cat. It was just standing in front of it. I'll never
forget the look on the dog's face. It was a look of embarrassment. It didn't know what to do. The
cat wasn't supposed to react like this. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
I agree most animals are very intelligent. The smallest of creatures have brains! Example - a ant
what do they do? And the bees? Dogs sense danger before we do. And they know when someone is ill
or feeling sad. And lets not forget the Dolphins they are very therapeutic to people with
disabilities as well. |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Yes they can why do dogs whine if they cant feel or think? |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
What I think separates humans from animals is self-consciousness. Animals do not question, they just
do.
Sure they show complex thought when they are hunting, but it's nowhere near the same level of
complexity. They hunt the same way all the time, they don't ask why they are hunting, or if there
are better ways to hunt.
Humans do ask these questions, that is why we have guns. We also have medicine. If an animal gets
ill, then that is it, they are ill. They don't ask why or what can be done about it. They don't
question nature.
We do question nature and we contest our natural constraints to make life better and easier for
ourselves. Animals can never achieve what humans have achieved because they are satisfied, they
never try and better themselves or even consider the possibility of bettering themselves because
they do not have self-consciousness. |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 For and Against Recent Activity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 Jul 2008 21:21
Sign In
