Different in degree or kind: animal minds (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, February 16, 2016, 15:46 (2989 days ago) @ David Turell

A thorough discussion of animal emotions, their possible quality and the fact that probably can be nothing like our emotions:-http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45330/title/Opinion--On-Animal-Emotions/&utm_campaign=NEWSLETTER_TS_The-Scientist-Daily_2016&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=26285056&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9dOrCTmnk-xx5qc3ENjrwDgddzP5sHYIGgVIf_vMVAbxf0lWiwoWshird3WjFit_0_pdNiqHRsfcZSdBGfJPViwPkHeg&_hsmi=26285057/-"Virtually every human emotion has been attributed to animals, and assertions that nonhuman animals have emotions “just like people” are frequent. Evidence to suggest animals have emotions comes from two sources: observations of animal behavior and inference from evolutionary theory.-***-"The most compelling observations are those made on wild animals, either in the field or in captivity, usually by researchers who have long interacted with the species. A researcher observes an animal behaving in a way similar to the way humans might behave under similar circumstances and posits they must be experiencing the same emotions. If a female chimpanzee cradles her dead offspring and exhibits facial expressions similar to a human mother who recently lost her child, she must be grieving.-"A less scientific but more influential source of belief about animal emotions comes from owners of domestic animals, especially companion animals like dogs and cats. These relationships are often close and enduring. If a dog jumps up and down, dashes back and forth, wags its tail wildly and barks loudly when his owner returns home, the dog is “joyful.” If a cat twines itself around its returning owner's legs, it is “loving.”-***-"Beliefs about animal emotions are shaped by anthropomorphism and language.-***-"Yet we have not been able to give up anthropomorphizing living things, because while the second-order approach is robust when it comes to things that can be observed and measured, such as cognitive abilities, it is at sea when it comes to things that cannot be observed or measured absolutely, such as emotions. We know what motivates us and how we feel when we behave in a certain way, so why not apply this knowledge to similar behaviors in other beings?-***-"To say, for example, “my dog loves me” connotes that my dog loves me in a human way. But this cannot be, if for no other reason than that a dog has no apparent knowledge of the ephemerality of existence, knowledge that is embedded in every human emotion. And if a dog loves me in a canine way, how that love may be similar to and different from human love is beyond objective resolution.-***-"It is quite possible, therefore, that dogs have evolved a capacity to “read” humans' expectations and have adapted pre-existing behaviours or evolved new ones that fulfill them. A dog doesn't have to love you; it just has to behave as if it does. In recent times especially, dogs, possibly more than any other animal, are purchased with an expectation of an emotional relationship— and we all want our investments to succeed.-"The inescapable truth is that, even if some animals are emotional beings, we will never know how those emotions are experienced. The philosopher, Thomas Nagel, sign-posted this epistemological dead-end concisely in 1974, when he pointed out we can never know what it is like to be a bat. Hanging upside down in the dark in a batman suit just won't cut it."-Comment: This answers dhw's opinions about animal emotions and that we evolved ours from them. Read the full article for the full flavor. Adler would be pleased!