Animal Minds; how much can we learn about them? (Animals)

by BBella , Saturday, December 05, 2015, 22:42 (3062 days ago) @ dhw

Here are more quotes from Denyse O'Leary's brilliant article:
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> QUOTE: “Human consciousness is difficult to define and "arguably the central issue in current theorizing about the mind," even though we experience it all our waking hours. If we can't even define our own consciousness, can we say whether a different type of life form has consciousness or a mind?”
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> We can't, and so we should remain open-minded.-Exactly.-> 
> QUOTE: “Some current philosophers have reasoned away the problem by positing that rocks have minds too.”-For now, we believe the lowly rock is just a mere, lifeless, extra hard bundle of dirt. Just as we once believed (certain races of) humans, animals, plants, etc were unintelligent. Possibly, with patience and "open-mindedness" we may one day find, just as Rumi said many years ago (paraphrasing), intelligence is just asleep in the rocks. 
 
> What follows is a defence of panpsychism, though the philosopher Jim Holt does not say so here. Many panpsychists are theists, and believe everything began with intelligence, but we have also discussed the hypothesis that everything began with mindless energy and matter, and intelligence evolved from their interaction.-And don't forget the hypothesis that intelligence, energy and matter always existed together with no beginning.-> QUOTE: “Life forms communicate with each other to a degree that often surprises researchers. Prey animals, for example, warn predators of the danger of eating them or advise other prey that a hiding place is taken. But evidence suggests that plants can communicate too. The Scientist tells us: Researchers are unearthing evidence that, far from being unresponsive and uncommunicative organisms, plants engage in regular conversation...Plants, it seems, have a social life that scientists are just beginning to understand.”-As an aside, I had mentioned in one of our discussions early on, about studies of plant communication and even plants appearing to express emotion. If I remember right, I remember reading about these early studies in the 70's.-> You don't have to believe it, but you have to be very stubborn indeed to disbelieve it.