If a human can feel emotions and react to them, therefore animals can as well. Animals emotions can be described as subjective, conscious experiences, that are characterized primarily by psycho-physiological expressions, biological reactions, and mental states.
Scientific studies have proven that animals do have certain feelings. Scientists believe that certain brain cells in humans called spindle cells are responsible for an individual's social behavior and the interplay between thoughts and feelings. Moreover, in several studies it has been found that many animals posses this certain cell, however animals do not clearly need this cell to present their feelings. Which means that whether this cell is present or not animals do express feelings. Dogs do not have spindle cells, but they have shown behavior that can suggest a human-like social sense. For example: When dogs have shown that they know how to follow a human's pointed finger to find a food treat. Though, this is an action they reacted to, however this may prove that they do have feelings. It is important to realize, tha...
First Friend: A History of Dogs and Humans, by Katherine Rogers, articulates the history of the relationship between dogs and humans. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, investigates if and how dogs exhibit morality. In both texts, anecdotes and observations are used to portray instances of dogs displaying cooperation, empathy, altruism, and, by extension, morality. Consequently, it stands to reason that dogs have a capacity for sociality, but how can the sociality of dogs be described? A dog’s capacity for sociality is the ability to form long term relationships with members of the same or other species. Dogs, in particular, dogs who hunt as well as dogs who play, are able to form long term relationships with humans and other dogs through trust, love,
One example of a scientist who disagrees with animals having emotions is Daniel Dennett. He believes only humans are capable of consciousness, which includes having emotions. Evidence supporting emotions in animals is a new idea and was usually disregarded until now. I disagree that my observations only show instinctual behaviors. Showing a form of play is not an instinct. There is a reason behind why humans play and it would be the same for animals. Humans do not just play for any reason; they play because it makes them happy. Animals do the same. The ducks were playing to make themselves happy. I would agree that ducks do travel in groups together for long distances. Learning to trust each other to cross a road is not an instinct a duck is born with. The ducks spend hours together and observe the other ducks. Once a duck has watched another duck cross the street they trust that they can do the same. Many animals instinct is to fight for food because they might not know when their next meal is. Duck are caring when it comes to respecting the ducks around them. They do not fight and cause harm to any of the other ducks while going after food. My observations support my thesis that a duck has emotions and is not just
The emotional coping function is also known as the mammalian brain since it is common to all mammals whose babies are born live and completely dependent upon their mother for survival. Neuroscientists, refer to this small but essential brain function as the limbic system. As we will see, without our emotional brain mothers would not feel an instinctive need to nurture and feed their young. Nor would babies recognize and sense that their survival depends upon staying close to their mother for protection. This relatively small but important brain function serves a variety of coping and sensory purposes including our capacity for emotional attachment to others. When we talk about our "feelings" we are describing sensations and impulses arising from our emotional coping brain.
Rene Descartes and David Hume lived in two completely different time periods, yet they shared interest in some of the same philosophical categories. Could animals reason? How did humans expand their knowledge compared to animals? Questions like these were answered both by Descartes and Hume even though they had two opposing views. Descartes was the first to address the questions about animal instincts, and later on Hume set out to refute some of his ideas.
For many years, people assumed that humans are significantly different from other species, which made them somewhat superior. However, research on animal behavior, especially our closest relatives, the apes has led to new discoveries that show many similarities between human and animals. Some of these similarities have questioned the uniqueness of humans and have led to debates not only among scientists but in the public as well. Frans de Waal, a renowned primatologist and the author of The Ape and the Sushi Master, is among the scientists that claim animals and humans are quite similar. The main focus of his book is to show that culture is not exclusive to humans. De Waal was not the first scientist to propose the theory that animals have culture nonetheless; it was received with a lot of enmity. He attributes this to the fear of losing the qualities that make humans special. Claims of language in apes became so threating that animal research was almost banned. According to de Waal, “attempts of censorship do reveal just how much insecurity surrounds human uniqueness”. (32) In an attempt to support his argument, he addresses the controversial issue of morality in animals. Morality is considered a cultural aspect and therefore people often use cultural biases in decision making. Dan Kahan, a psychologist, referred to this as cultural cognition, which “refers to the tendency of individuals to conform their beliefs about disputed matters of fact to values that define their cultural identities”. Subsequently, theories on morality depend on the perspective of the scientists who carry out the research. De Waal supports his theory by analyzing aspects of morality in humans and comparing them to animal behavior.
“A response of the whole organism, involving physical arousal, expressive behaviors and conscious experiences are known as emotions” (David Myers, 2007).
“Do animals have emotions?” When animal lovers and pet owners are asked this question, the answer is a quick and definite, “Yes!” For others, the answer isn 't so simple. Many of the researchers that had reservations, spent their time wondering what dogs (and other animals) were capable of feeling, or if they were capable of feeling anything at all. Since these researchers were unable to put feelings under a microscope, their research lead no where, and they remained skeptics. To the contrary,Marc Bekoff, author of several books including The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy and Why They Matter, begins his research three decades ago with the question, “What does it feel like to be a
People and animals are identical in several ways; animals both feel, think, behave, and experience pain just as humans experience
Consciousness may be manifested in self-awareness, awareness of others, intentional behavior, including intentional communication, deception of others, and in the ability to make mental and symbolic representations (13). ” There is no question that humans carry these attributes, but what about animals? Some philosophers, including Descartes, claimed that while humans are conscious, animals are like machines, with no thought process or sentience. Others claim that animals are very capable of consciousness, and that we just have not had the capabilities to test the aspects of it through the scientific method.
Arluke, A. (1994). Managing emotions in an animal shelter (pp. 145-165). Animals and human society.
One explanation that claims emotions are universal comes from Darwin (1872 in Smith & Kosslyn, 2009). Darwin adopted an evolutionary perspective of emotions by contending that emotions are universal which consist of biological components in which individuals are able to recognise emotional expressions of individual’s across different cultures. Definitions of emotions are many and varied. Emotions influence behaviour and can be positive and negative. They are also associated with physiological and cognitive changes and can influence behaviour (in Smith & Kossyln, 2009).
Empathy can be expressed in many different methods. It can be expressed through a simple touch or a thoughtful action. People can express empathy- which is the ability to feel what another is feeling, the ability to live and experience the feelings of another without direct connection to that person's situation. However, this is not solely owned by homosapiens. This gift to feel empathy and then express it through different means is shared with all mammals, especially with canines. There is a lot of scientific debate around whether or not dogs can feel empathy. In reality, there are multitude of ways in which dogs can express empathy and two means in which empathy can be expressed would be through emotional contagion and prosociality.
To her, at least, he has more emotions than we do. All these thoughts came into my mind when I saw this question. And my answer was… it is human consciousness is no way different from animal consciousness till I started reading about this online.
Animals can be perceived in many different ways. While some humans consider animals to be mindless machines programmed with instinct, others view them as spiritual creatures capable of coherent thought and emotions. I feel that animals are somewhere in the middle. Although they rely heavily on instinct, the ability to feel emotions shows that their mental capacity is not far from that of a human.
Both. I’m receiving the emotions and the energy level. Their message doesn’t come in like a burning bush—it comes in like a voice in your head or as a projected image. If I want to convey something to an animal, I project the image of what I want them to do or how I