Human Consciousness: Role of the unconscious (Humans)

by dhw, Saturday, February 13, 2016, 13:47 (3205 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: That animals might have souls is a tenet of Judaism, nothing more.
dhw: You have never to my knowledge discounted the possibility. See below for further comment on animal thought.
DAVID: I never meant to 'discount' it. I accept it as a possibility.-Thank you. Therefore you think it possible that Adler's difference “in kind” (only humans have an “immaterial” mind) is wrong.
 
dhw: Even you agree that some animals and birds think, have emotions, take decisions... Huge gulf in degree, yes, but working out solutions to problems can also count as “immaterial” thought, as can grief, as can making choices. And you agree that humans and apes share a common ancestor. So why is the distinction between kind and degree so important to you? What are you trying to prove?-DAVID: What Adler proves. We are so different in degree it is obvious we are different in kind, because that degree in difference could not have been created by undirected evolutionary processes.-You have constantly informed us that virtually nothing in evolution could have been created by undirected evolutionary processes, including the weaverbird's nest! So degree versus kind is irrelevant anyway. BBella has hit the nail on the head:
 
BBella: According to evolution do not all beings share a common ancestor? And if so, wouldn't that mean all beings are truly only different in degree from each other? It would seem to me, only for categorizations purpose would something be different in kind.-The perfect summary. Bacteria, ants, dogs, eagles, elephants, humans....all categorically different in kind, and all with varying degrees of intelligence, manoeuvrability, adaptability, perception, social organization etc., explicable in terms of the evolutionary drive (origin unknown) for survival and/or improvement.