By FRANS de WAAL: refuted (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, November 11, 2016, 15:04 (2713 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: ALL organisms have their own form of language. Sign language and body language are language. It is absurd to suggest that chimps are not intelligent because their language is not like ours.

I've never said chimps don't have a degree of intelligence. Why did you bring it up? Of course they do. Just because we disagree as to the importance of the differences?

dhw: I haven’t read de Waal’s book, but I’d be surprised if he argued that animal intelligence is on a par with human introspective intelligence. There are different levels of intelligence and consciousness, but the fact that an animal does not spontaneously try to behave like a human does not, in my view, “refute” de Waal’s claim that animals are intelligent!

Don't you see that de Waal over interprets their innate intelligence. That doesn't translate into 'they have none'!

David’s comment: I have no idea why these researchers are so surprised. They have assumed in advance that he did not have this capacity […] The usual point is the research folks are trying to disprove how different we are. They failed.

dhw: I am also surprised at their surprise and at your conclusion. The fact that you knew they shared this ability with us means you knew how similar they are to us, not how different.

"Sharing" requires interpretation. Of course we share. I've never said otherwise. We are arguing about degree of sharing: an interpretation that we are different in kind.