By FRANS de WAAL: refuted (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, November 10, 2016, 21:01 (2934 days ago) @ dhw

dhw:Intelligence is not to be gauged by how far apes can adopt human language and culture! If a human expects an ape to behave like a human in order to show its intelligence, maybe the human is not as intelligent as he thinks he is. Perhaps the reviewer should initiate a conversation with Alex in Alex’s own language, and then maybe he’d have a different story to tell.

Some language! Chimps have about 30 'sounds' but use sign language and body language to communicate:

http://www.conservenature.org/learn_about_wildlife/chimpanzees/chimp_communication.htm

dhw: I don’t know of any scientist who claims that our fellow animals have the same level of intelligence, let alone self-awareness as humans. Horses think like horses, apes think like apes, ants think like ants. But time after time, scientists demonstrate the intelligence of other organisms by setting them problems which can only be solved by intelligent thought – you have drawn our attention to many such tests. Yes, humans can train their fellow animals. That doesn’t mean that their fellow animals in the wild don’t have the intelligence to communicate with one another, cooperate with one another, devise ways of life that suit themselves, solve problems that nature throws at them, and in the context of animal societies create systems that work a darn sight better than our own.

You are correct, animals are more independent and we as humans are interdependent. Their thoughts shows intentionality. Introspection, no.