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Do animals have feelings?
- Thread starter OMEGA
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H
heatherrae
Guest
Absolutely. They just aren't the same as human feelings.
K
Kano
Guest
hell yes
G
gettinripped
Guest
sure they do. think of all the times you left the house and your dog shit on the floor by the door or tore up your favorite magazine or pair of shoes. that's all in spite.
Of course they have feelings. They are just not aware of them in the same way that humans are. A dog that is happy is just happy, a dog that is sad is just sad. A human that is happy will say 'damn i am happy, i'm gonna beat off.' A human that is sad will mope on about their feelings and listen to depeche mode.
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OMEGA said:
Laying on the floor from doing dead lifts coming home from the gym, hit the floor to stretch out. MY cat let out a loud, "WAAAA"!!! My cat was looking over me like a damn doctor "waa" MEOW, waa", over and over until, in my face,all over me." At that point I then realized this animal is intelligent and that "it" knows
"me'! And that it, my cat, knew something was wrong with me. Dogs in another story! LOL
Subzeero said:
Evidence to back this up? I've never been a
before (or at least can't remember, lol), so I can't put myself in it's place.Seriously though, have any universities actually researched this? I mean, the drooling dog thing seemed easy enough, so why not throw some postulates out and test them (and by test, I don't mean slaughter, lol.)
Also, for those that think animals have feelings, do you include small mammals? What about fish? Birds? Butterflies? At what point do living organisms start (or stop) having feelings?
To further define the argument:
"Feelings are affective states of consciousness, triggered by physiological changes arising from both sensory perceptions and memories in comparison to internally stored norms or ideals. Thinking, or the active comparing and contrasting of data, involves mental states that symbolize physiological changes and can be perceived as such.
Fear, for example, is an anticipation of injury to one's body, self image or goals. In healthy subjects, it is triggered by stimuli which indicate the presence of risk or direct danger. However, direct physical stimuli is not necessary. Thoughts and/or unconscious brain patterns can promote conditioned responses, where a feeling of fear could result from imagined situations when there is no direct threat present.
Perception of the physical world does not necessarily result in a universal reaction among receivers (see emotions), but varies depending on one’s tendency to handle the situation, how the situation relates to the receiver's past experiences, and any number of other factors (see further http://www.feelingdictionary.com).
Thoughts and feelings often coexist. Generally, a human cannot have a thought without a feeling and vice versa. This may be arguable philosophically; however, it may seem contradictory. A thought can be viewed as a comparing or contrasting of data items while a feeling is a visceral perception of the difference between the items. When a belief is attached to the cause of, or reason for the difference, the perception takes on a specifically labelled quality assigned by experience and called an emotion.
Harvard professor Abraham Maslow suggests that human beings are all born with an innate sense of positive and negative being-values. We are attracted to positive being-values such as justice, honesty, truth, beauty, humour, liveliness, power (but not abusive power), order (but not nit-picking), intelligence. Likewise, we are repulsed by injustice, death, ugliness, weakness, falseness, deceit, chaos, etc.
Maslow asserts that positive being-values are only definable in terms of all other positive being-values—in other words, we cannot maximize any virtue and let it contain some negative being-values without repulsion. For example, beauty that is associated with deceit becomes repulsive. Justice associated with cruelty is repulsive.
This innate capacity to feel attraction or repulsion forms part of the foundation for moral conscience—that is, feelings, perceived, help shape the individual's moral judgements.
The List is different from tradition to tradition. Tibetan Buddhism has a different list. It also needs to be understood that language also plays an important part in culturally defining feeling and different cultures have different way of perceiving and identifying feelings. some feelings in the list may not exist at all in a particular cultural-linguistic context."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeling
Also, are feeling and emotion the same? Is one required for the other?
"Feelings are affective states of consciousness, triggered by physiological changes arising from both sensory perceptions and memories in comparison to internally stored norms or ideals. Thinking, or the active comparing and contrasting of data, involves mental states that symbolize physiological changes and can be perceived as such.
Fear, for example, is an anticipation of injury to one's body, self image or goals. In healthy subjects, it is triggered by stimuli which indicate the presence of risk or direct danger. However, direct physical stimuli is not necessary. Thoughts and/or unconscious brain patterns can promote conditioned responses, where a feeling of fear could result from imagined situations when there is no direct threat present.
Perception of the physical world does not necessarily result in a universal reaction among receivers (see emotions), but varies depending on one’s tendency to handle the situation, how the situation relates to the receiver's past experiences, and any number of other factors (see further http://www.feelingdictionary.com).
Thoughts and feelings often coexist. Generally, a human cannot have a thought without a feeling and vice versa. This may be arguable philosophically; however, it may seem contradictory. A thought can be viewed as a comparing or contrasting of data items while a feeling is a visceral perception of the difference between the items. When a belief is attached to the cause of, or reason for the difference, the perception takes on a specifically labelled quality assigned by experience and called an emotion.
Harvard professor Abraham Maslow suggests that human beings are all born with an innate sense of positive and negative being-values. We are attracted to positive being-values such as justice, honesty, truth, beauty, humour, liveliness, power (but not abusive power), order (but not nit-picking), intelligence. Likewise, we are repulsed by injustice, death, ugliness, weakness, falseness, deceit, chaos, etc.
Maslow asserts that positive being-values are only definable in terms of all other positive being-values—in other words, we cannot maximize any virtue and let it contain some negative being-values without repulsion. For example, beauty that is associated with deceit becomes repulsive. Justice associated with cruelty is repulsive.
This innate capacity to feel attraction or repulsion forms part of the foundation for moral conscience—that is, feelings, perceived, help shape the individual's moral judgements.
The List is different from tradition to tradition. Tibetan Buddhism has a different list. It also needs to be understood that language also plays an important part in culturally defining feeling and different cultures have different way of perceiving and identifying feelings. some feelings in the list may not exist at all in a particular cultural-linguistic context."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeling
Also, are feeling and emotion the same? Is one required for the other?
H
heatherrae
Guest
My point is that many people try to humanize animals and think that they think and feel just like we do. While I believe, depending on the species, etc. animals feel emotions, I believe that they are much more likely operating on instinct sometimes, and we tend to humanize instintual behaviors by ascribing human emotions to them. That is all.OMEGA said:
When I was living with my parents, A couple of mockingbirds kept swooping down at my head. They even came into the house pecking at my head and then flew back out before I slammed the door. Well, I was pissed. I went back outside, picked up a rock and threw it at the birds in the tree. Bullseye ( I was an ace pitcher). The bird fell down to the ground dead instantly. What happened next made me feel like shit. For several days and nights, the mate of that bird sat up in that tree and cried loudly for days. There is no doubt that animals have feelings. People are animals as well. And baby calves are very playful like dogs until they fatten them up. They come to the fence wanting attention.
OfficerNate
Banned
I think heaterrae just summed it up for us. Well done.
H
heatherrae
Guest
Ah, ignoring the differences in species is ridiculous. There are profound differences in behavior based upon evolutionary biology and adaptive instincts. Now, no one is going to argue that their pet lizard felt a sense of injustice or faith in God, or other complex emotions are they? Look, people, as much as you are animal lovers, and I am too, love them for being the animals that they are. They are not little humans. Dogs, for example, are pack animals. I believe they demonstrate loyalty, perhaps a sense of loss when one of its pack dies, a sense of fun, aggression, etc. However, I do not delude myself to think that they "think" like we do. Their "emotions" are deeply rooted in evolutionary biology. A more solitary animal would not likely demonstrate any distress over the loss of another animal. They are just not wired that way.
The way that a dog behaves as a result will not be the same way that a human, cat, or jellyfish does.
Yes, we are all animals, but I've never thought that an earthworm was crying, do you? To ignore the profound differences in animal behavior is foolish. One of the best courses I took in undergraduate school was evolutionary animal biology. The beauty and complexity of animal behavior and how artfully crafted it is to each species in particular is astounding. Let us not cheapen the diversity of life on the planet by pretending they are all just replicas of ourselves. Even cursory study of animal behavior will demonstrate that to not be true.
The way that a dog behaves as a result will not be the same way that a human, cat, or jellyfish does.
Yes, we are all animals, but I've never thought that an earthworm was crying, do you? To ignore the profound differences in animal behavior is foolish. One of the best courses I took in undergraduate school was evolutionary animal biology. The beauty and complexity of animal behavior and how artfully crafted it is to each species in particular is astounding. Let us not cheapen the diversity of life on the planet by pretending they are all just replicas of ourselves. Even cursory study of animal behavior will demonstrate that to not be true.
jerkbox said:
Dolphins can reason
in a military Test Dolphins were taught to chase an object and then attack it with an explosive tip
they did this on objects with no life with the ultimate goal of the Dolphins attacking enemy Divers
once the tests graduated to life forms like Seals I believe the Dolphins did it once
then once the saw the suffering and death of the animal they hit they would not do it again..........
THATS REASONING>>>>>>>>>>
fuck humans that choose ego and violence over the innocent
"Emotion, in its most general definition, is an intense mental state that arises autonomically in the nervous system rather than through conscious effort, and evokes either a positive or negative psychological response. An emotion is often differentiated from a feeling."
Interesting...
Interesting...
Samoth there are studies on animals and emotion
Dr. Dr. Singer speaks on this in depth ( Princeton)
and also argues that eating animals is an example of "speciesism"
and how humans justify so much on entitlement and ego, which is an abuse of sentients and reason
basically says we can eat fish and vegetables
Dr. Dr. Singer speaks on this in depth ( Princeton)
and also argues that eating animals is an example of "speciesism"
and how humans justify so much on entitlement and ego, which is an abuse of sentients and reason
basically says we can eat fish and vegetables
