Animal Minds (Animals)

by dhw, Sunday, June 19, 2011, 18:36 (4688 days ago) @ David Turell

David says that humans are different in kind from other animals. I pointed out that all species were different in kind, and asked what was the significance of this fact.-DAVID: Hyenas, humpbacks, bees, elephants, humming birds all have what we have to a degree, but we are different in kind (Adler). Where are the elephant Mozarts? The Bach bees? The Shakespeare sheep? The animals have a smidgen of what we have. You are equating an ant hill with Mt Everest.-I must stress that I am equating the basic instincts, not the intellectual, aesthetic, scientific or philosophical capacity! I listed the shared preoccupations in my previous post (family, relationships, education, home, food, protection against climate and other species as well as our own). These are the very foundations of animal and human life, and the barriers of sophistication that we have erected around ourselves prevent many people from realizing that our social, educational and commercial institutions, our industries, our weapons, our wars etc. are all extensions of the same primitive instincts we have inherited from our animal ancestors. Even in your post on "Human Evolution" you have drawn attention to the difficulty of distinguishing between early humans and other animals, when you ask if "homo habilis" really was "homo". There are many different facets to this particular topic, and it might help to list them:-1) Our lives are based mainly (not exclusively) on the same set of instincts as those of other animals.-2) Our extreme sophistication blinds us to the common ground we share with other animals, and makes us insensitive to their feelings.-3) The fact that we came so late on the scene makes a mockery of the argument that humans are responsible for the patterns of selfish behaviour which result in what we describe as "evil". These patterns arose from the struggle for survival, and either from random changes in the course of evolution (e.g. sexual rivalry, the arrival of carnivores), or from the deliberate work of a conscious, creative intelligence, which must have chosen to introduce self-centred aggression.-4) It could be argued that while all species are "different in kind", humans with their many levels of conscious intelligence are in some way "superior". This view (which is common, though I'm not sure if anyone on this website subscribes to it) is dangerous. Although in my opinion we have every right to be proud of our artistic, scientific, philosophical etc. achievements, our species is the most destructive and self-destructive on the planet. Not only have we failed to devise any social system to rival the efficiency of that devised by many insects, but also our massively advanced intelligence enables us to exercise our basest animal instincts on a vast scale, so that we inflict unprecedented degrees of damage on all life forms including our own, as well as on the environment that sustains our life. It would seem that our differences have served to expand the impact of our common features. It might be argued, then, that the Mt Everest/anthill image is more one of degree than of kind.-*************-On a lighter note, I caught the tail-end of a news snippet a couple of days ago. On consecutive mornings, a farmer woke up to find that his cows had escaped through an open gate. He therefore kept watch to see if he could catch the culprit. It turned out to be a cow which had learned to open the gate with its tongue! I will leave you to imagine the thoughts that must have gone through that cow's mind, not to mention the thoughts of her fan club.