on animal cognition: do animals have consciousness (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, August 30, 2019, 09:59 (1911 days ago) @ David Turell

QUOTES: "Tulving distinguished between noetic and autonoetic consciousness. Noetic consciousness, he proposed, is the awareness of facts—this is food, that is dangerous, a potential mate is present. Autonoetic consciousness, on the other hand, he said, is the awareness that YOU are the one having the experience. The latter kind of awareness requires a sense of self in time. This is not simply the ability to make a decision that has an impact on future behavior. It instead involves the ability to engage in mental time travel—to envision yourself with a personal past and a hypothetical future (or futures). Tulving suggested that while other animals can engage in future oriented behaviors, and may have noetic experiences, only humans have autonoetic consciousness. (David’s bold)
***
"The difficulty in scientifically measuring consciousness in animals means that we may never truly know for certain what goes on in their minds. But maybe this is not the most important question scientifically. Perhaps we should be more focused on cognitive and behavioral capacities that are clearly shared with, and measurable in, other animals. Some of these shared capacities have clearly contributed to the evolution of our kind of consciousness, and may make possible some form of awareness in other animals, even if the capacities they possess do not make them conscious in the way we are."

DAVID: Note my bold of a quote. The author and I agree. Humans have consciousness. Both animals and we are conscious. Very long article worth reading, which I think supports Adler's view.

Thank you so much for editing this very long article. It all leads to the blindingly obvious conclusion that if animals are conscious, they are not as conscious as we are. Nobody I know of has ever claimed that they are. And it is equally blindingly obvious that we cannot get inside the minds of other organisms. We CAN only judge what goes on by observing their behaviour, and if their behaviour shows all the signs of awareness, e.g. communicating, decision-making, problem-solving (seems to have been omitted here), expressive responses, cooperation, adaptation to new conditions, complex architecture, complex social structures etc. etc., it seems to me to be the absolute height of what Shapiro calls “large organs chauvinism” to question whether they know what they are doing, i.e. are conscious.