How do you know?
My pets express themselves pretty clearly, despite having much more limited ability to communicate across species lines.
I feel reasonably confident in stating that I believe animals are conscious, just to varying depths.
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NielsBohron@lemmy.world 3 months agoBut they are not human emotions, so to assign human emotions to animals is a misnomer.
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 3 months ago
NielsBohron@lemmy.world 3 months ago
My pets express themselves pretty clearly, despite having much more limited ability to communicate across species lines.
They express wants and needs, not emotions. Assuming that they have emotions that are the same as human emotions is anthropomorphization. They might have some analogous emotions, and boredom in a mammal might seem similar to human boredom, but where do you draw the line? Can a dog experience ennui? Can a cat experience a lack of fulfillment? Can a snake experience depression?
I feel reasonably confident in stating that I believe animals are conscious, just to varying depths.
I don’t disagree, but you can’t say that animals that evolved consciousness in completely different environments and with different senses and neurology would experience emotion in the same way as humans. Apes, sure, they are really close and probably the easiest argument for human emotions in non-human species, but other mammals get farther and farther from human experience and emotion, and it’s presumptuous of humans to assume that the experience emotions the same way. Read “What Is It Like to Be a Bat” for some of the philosophical and scientific issues with assigning human emotions to other mammals.
And other intelligent animals that are further removed from humanity on the evolutionary chain would have even more alien emotions. Humans can feel empathy for an octopus or African Greys, but can either of those animals feel empathy for humans? What about curiosity? They seem curious, but how can we know if they experience curiosity that is anything like human curiosity?
grrgyle@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
I think of that paper often, though I think it applies equally to other humans. Like I’ll never know how it feels to be Doug unless I fully become Doug, and thus lose my own perspective.
Like how much of empathy is just projection?
I feel like a lot of it. We can talk about similarities in physiological responses to events, but as far as the actual subjective “qualia” (I think I’m using the term correctly) 🤷♂️
NielsBohron@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I believe you just hit upon what is called The Problem of Other Minds in philosophical terms
RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Unfortunately I’ve got to disagree with you from the outset, they do in fact express emotions, having witnessed one of my pets feel less inclined to partake in activities he very much normally enjoyed when his compatriot of a different species eventually passed away due to age. That is one clear example I’ve observed on my own, several times in a couple of different species over the years (unfortunately).
It’s a bit pedantic, in truth, to state that these animals don’t feel human emotions. Do all of us experience ennui for that matter? Envy, to the same level as one another? Which leads to a paradox of how one defines a conscious, human mind at all, if it were indeed based only on what emotions are present when presented with a similar stimulus.
Further, I’m noticing that you’re focused on dancing around “are they human”, not “are they conscious”, a more interesting & insightful question. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed this tactic among people who don’t want to feel bad about eating other conscious beings. If you eat other passengers on this ship called earth, so be it, but avoid the cowardice that comes with assigning them lower value in a pseudo-intellectual manner.
Do you think animals are capable of being curious, even when there’s no impetus for them to be? I certainly do.
NielsBohron@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Do all of us experience ennui for that matter? Envy, to the same level as one another?
As noted elsewhere, this is an ongoing philosophical discussion called The Problem of Other Minds. I’d link it, but since you can’t be bothered to read the links already present, I don’t think there’s much point.
Which leads to a paradox of how one defines a conscious, human mind at all, if it were indeed based only on what emotions are present when presented with a similar stimulus.
You’re missing the point that all humanity, collectively, as a species has largely the same senses, evolutionary history, and brain structure. Therefore, despite experiencing the emotions differently and to different extremes, we are mostly capable of experiencing the same emotions. Take away that shared brain structure and shared evolutionary history, and it’s a very large, unfounded assumption to think that other species have the same emotions.
Further, I’m noticing that you’re focused on dancing around “are they human”, not “are they conscious”
No, I literally agreed with you that consciousness is a spectrum and that most life falls somewhere on that spectrum. Buy hey, go ahead and ignore that so you can build yourself a strawman. I never said anywhere that I eat meat, so you’re just imagining things so you can build an argument against a statement I never made.
Do you think animals are capable of being curious, even when there’s no impetus for them to be? I certainly do.
This sentence right here is everything I need to know about your stance. You’re either not willing to consider or able to understand that different species experience consciousness and emotion as an evolved trait, and when the evolutionary drivers are different, the emotions are different. Any species that evolves the ability to be curious will have done so because it’s an evolutionary advantage, but if the evolutionary pressure and the senses and the literal brain structure is different, then the emotion of “curiosity” will be different. Assuming that other species experience curiosity the same way as humans is exceptionally close-minded.
You’re not doing other species any favors by anthropomorphizing them; you’re just limiting your own understanding.
theluckyone@lemmy.world 3 months ago
You state that animals are expressing wants and needs, not emotions, then ask questions that can only be answered by “we don’t know”.
I’d sooner think you do not know the former, either.
NielsBohron@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Fair. I could have been more accurate by saying “they are exhibiting behavior that has been reinforced by certain positive responses,” but that’s a little wordy.
daddy32@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Until we have better understanding and dictionary for their emotions, using names of human emotions instead can be a good approximation.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net 3 months ago
I’m not even sure a shared taxonomy of human emotions is particularly accurate, given how differently people sense even nameable emotions.
But they’re still valid emotions ofc, just kinda unknowable
NielsBohron@lemmy.world 3 months ago
It can be, but it can also be a gross misrepresentation. Outside of higher mammals, it seems safer to me to assume that their emotions are extremely dissimilar and human emotions are poor analogues at best.
flicker@lemmy.world 3 months ago
That does not mean they do not have value.
Also I’m shocked we haven’t seen a snake person come and argue they get depressed.