Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Can Animal Think

Better Essays
1350 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Can Animal Think
ANIMALS CAN THINK.
Student’s name
Professor’s name
Institution
24th June 2013

Animals can think.
Intelligence and competency varies from one individual to another. In animals it is believed that they also have a varying degree of intelligence. It is believed that domestic animals as well as other animals have minds. They have varying level of perception and also their ability to think also varies. According to research done by Davis and Cheeke to investigate whether animal differ in relative intelligent shows that 88% of the scientist has proofed that animal has mind and they as well think. They rank the domestic animal from highest intelligent to the lowest, dog, cats, pig, horse, cow, sheep, chicken, and turkey. Possession of mind and thought and intelligent is a prevalence of how animals should be treated and more so humanely. Darwin in his finding in theory of evolution said that animals’ minds and that of humans only differ by a certain degree but not in kind.
It is only that animals can only communicate through a language which we cannot understand. Development in ethnography and anthropology appears to run parallel to recent development in semiotics. In thinking, empirical observations are conceived on specular thoughts and cognitive relation. The ability of animals to identify places where they leave is an indication that they have memories. The ability to respond to the prey and environment shows that these animals have mind and they do think. Even though animals think, their thinking capacity cannot be compared at all to that of human being. It is believed that human beings are the most intellectual and competent animal that God created. Scientist argues that apes are part of human evolution and thus explains why they have high level of competence. Elephant also is believed to have high memory and intelligent compared to other animals (Dennis & Walcott 2011). It could be of ease to research of animals if human can understand other animal’s communications.
Most of the biologist and psychologists explains animals as mechanistic but in real sense animals capability are far much than that of devices. Animals have capability of conscious thoughts as well as felling which sometimes might be subjective. To demonstrate the ability of an animal to think, a chimpanzee was seen hunting the termites. A chimpanzee selects a small branch then transforming it into a tool for capturing the termites. It then moves to a termite nest where at a specific distance it probes it with termites. Such activities differ radically from other activities of chimpanzee. These seem difficult to understand unless the animal is consciously thinking about gathering termites while preparing the probe (Andreas 2001). This is a clear indication that when the chimpanzee was preparing the probe it has an idea that it want to gather the termites. There is an order of information which can only be formed by an animal which has brain and can think. This is an indication that animals can think as portrayed by chimpanzee behavior.
Adaptability of an animal to changing environment is an important attribute towards show of conscious thinking. Ability of an animal to acquire new method to get food through a complex series of actions can be said to be intentional thinking rather than rigid automatism. This was seen in Japanese macaques which learned new ways of separating grain from inedible material. Macaques do this by throwing these grains in water where the sand sinks and the grain floats. It takes them and eats. This was first devised in moneys then they were gradually acquired by other through observational learning. The feeding of assassin bug through camouflaging and gluing bits of termite nest all over its body (Davis 2005). It sucks the termites semifluid and then places it at the nest opening to attract other termite workers when they try to consume the remain. It captures the second when it try to seizure the dead one. It repeats this several times until it get satisfied. The extraordinary complexity and coordination of these acts suggest conscious thoughts. Despite the size of the central nervous system, assassin bug is believed to use conscious thought for its mode of feeding. Thinking and central nervous system go hand in hand.
Animals are made of the same system so as the human since they are also animals. Different species including human beings have different ability and need to be happy. Different species feel the same kind of sensational and emotions as humans. The way other species react, feel thing, are not easy for human to understand. They feel hunger heat and cold, pain and pleasure as well as stress and anxiety. Most animals are sentiments since they can think and perceive the environment they leave in. They experience and adapt this in different ways. Some animals have high levels of consciousness than others. Low level of consciousness is associated with sensational and emotions. Hermit crabs evacuate their shells as a response to painful stimulations (Eugene 2001). The crabs with better quality shell take quite a longer time to leave the shell than those with poor shells.
A chimpanzee sometime become aggressive to each other and this may cause one of them to leave the group after several attacks. This shows that chimpanzee can recall what happened in the past and it thus makes a decision of attack in return toward its experience. It’s believed that new Caledonian crows can learn how to use tools and choose for the most appropriate one. Some animals like dog enjoy some experiences like lying on the sand or feeding on delicious meal or a cow associating with its newborn calf. This show that they have memory and they can recall their previous experiences. Some animals hide their pain especially to predators so as to increase chances of survival. This is seen in chicken and mouse after they sense any predator. This is a clear indication that animals have memories and they think and associate their experiences with their current situations.
Some animals like apes, dolphins, birds and octopuses uses tool as well as human being. These are some of the amazing abilities possessed by animals but we used to think they are only possessed by human beings only (Davis & Cheeke, 2013). Some apes dolphins and parrots can understand basic human language which shows that they have capability of thinking and comprehending issues. Others like elephant demonstrate empathy and altruism. Some animals also portray some degree of self-awareness by showing that they are individuals separate from others and from environment as well. It is not easy to know how animal think as well as it is not possible to know how a member of family or another person is thinking. There is close linkage between intentional thinking and conscious thoughts from one animal to another. This helps us to understand social animals since these communications conveys thought and felling and can help us understand animal thinking. When animals live together and depend on each other, they need to be able to judge the intentions and moods of their companions.
It is important to understand and remember that human beings are just one of the many species and these species just like us are conscious and are able to fell emotion pain or pleasure. The most efficient way which we could have used to understand animal thinking is to learn their language which is impossible. Humans are not unique in possessing neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Other non-human animal as well possesses these neurological substrates.

References
Andreas R. (2001). Thinking with animals. Department of social Anthropology, university of Aarhus moesgaard, Denmark.
Davis & Cheeke, (2013). Journal of animal science. Opinions on the question. Do domestic animals have minds and the ability to think? A provisional sample of. http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/76/8/2072.
Davis M. (2005) Animals and Humans, Thinking and Nature1. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, vol. 4, no. 1.
Dennis M & Walcott C (2011) literacy: Can animals think? New York City. Available at schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E04C32EB-7A9C-430C-AAFCD7A969383951/0/NYCDOEG6LiteracyAnimalsThink_Final.pdf
Eugene L. (2001) Can Animal Thinks?

References: Andreas R. (2001). Thinking with animals. Department of social Anthropology, university of Aarhus moesgaard, Denmark. Davis & Cheeke, (2013). Journal of animal science. Opinions on the question. Do domestic animals have minds and the ability to think? A provisional sample of. http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/76/8/2072. Davis M. (2005) Animals and Humans, Thinking and Nature1. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, vol. 4, no. 1. Dennis M & Walcott C (2011) literacy: Can animals think? New York City. Available at schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E04C32EB-7A9C-430C-AAFCD7A969383951/0/NYCDOEG6LiteracyAnimalsThink_Final.pdf Eugene L. (2001) Can Animal Thinks?

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Can Animals Think?

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Eugene Linden in the Time magazine article “Can Animals Think?” claims that animals can think. They will probably do their best thinking when it serves their purpose, not when some scientist asked them. Linden supports his argument by describing, using anecdotes, how animals use intelligence to benefit themselves. The author’s purpose is to point out how animals use their intelligence so the writer may gain insight into animals their awry. The author writes in informative tone for time magazine. I I learned that animals can use deception and trickery. This article, “Can Animals Think?” is important because they know how and when do their needs. Linden stated, “It was the wire lock pick, bent to fit between his lip and gum and stowed there between escapes.” This illustrates that the orangutan tried to escape using his abilities. Linden also stated, “But the next time the weather was nice, Fu Manchu escaped again.” This points out that animals can think for their own purposes. I I believe that Eugene Linden’s article “Can Animals Think?” is related to Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” because both texts show the reason and instinct are two different things, these two pieces of writing assimilates that it can tell the same story but in different ways. For example in Linden’s article “Animals are more than wind-up toys that blinding respond to tempting treats” and in Connell’s short story, “The animal has nothing but his legs and his instinct” both shows a wrong way to judge animals.…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    The aim of this essay is to investigate the two major theories trying to explain why do primates have large brains. Even since the seminar study of Jerison in 1973 it has been acknowledged that primate brains are unusually large for their body size. There are three main groups of theories giving more or less persuasive explanations of the evolution of large brains and high cognitive skills in primates. The first group is a group of social theories, postulating that primate cognition is a result of complex social interactions between individuals, and in this essay this group will be represented by the Social Brain Hypothesis proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar. The second group encompasses the ecological theories that are based on a premise that primate intelligence originated from complex interactions with the environment. A “delegate” from this group in my discussion will be the Visual Specialisation Hypothesis introduced by Robert Barton (1998), who argues that primate encephalisation is connected to frugivorous diet and the need of advanced visual abilities. Finally, the Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis, which is a general name to multiple related views, proposes that large-brained primates possess “general intelligence” due to their great behavioural flexibility. This final theory will be included in the comparison just to offer an alternative view to the two mainly discussed theories above.…

    • 1957 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In “How Smart are Animals?” the author Dorothy Patent, is informing us about the smart abilities animals really have. Animals are smarter than we think. In the first few paragraphs she tells us that a dog, named Villa saved a young girl, named Andrea, from a massive blizzard the dog rushed to her side and got her to safety. This just tells us that animals really can think and process what’s going on. The story explains the perfections and flaws animals have when it comes to training. In the story a part of it tells us that when animals are performing kind of like dolphins they act as if they are in a play or movie like humans do. Dorothy Patent is basically giving us all the information we need to decide on our own whether not animals…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chimpanzee and Animals

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    One example that shows how animals do not have the capacity to communicate was by Jane Goodall, who raised a chimp named Lucy. After a while of training, she returned Lucy to Africa. She was able to sign, “Please help, out,” but Goodall does not consider this conclusive that the chimpanzee can use language in spontaneous communication, as all humans do. She believes the ability to communicate, separated from events, is the major distinction between humans and apes.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “Consciousness is a state of awareness” where the “experiencing subject is aware of itself as well as of its environment. ”(Schonfield p.1) In their Dictionary of Ethology, and from Donald R. Griffin 's essay Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness, Immelmann and Beer define animal consciousness as “immediate awareness of things, events, and relations.” (Griffin p.12)“Animals really think” and “non humans have measurable and efficacious intentions and thoughts.” (Schonfield p.5) Animals have their own language and to have language means to think. To think means to be conscious. Primates, birds and marine animals can use symbols like sign language, computer keyboards and gestures to communicate. Animals adapt to their environment.…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Problem of Animal Consciousness: Do Horses Gallop in Their Sleep?” Matt Cartmill argues that concsciousness does not only contribute to humans, but to non-humans as well, animals. Consciousness has been prescribed as a human experience in spite of all of the evidence that has been showed that animals have consciousness. Philosophers and scientists believe that consciousness has no evolutionary history, because they think that humans are the only creatures that have it. Because nonhuman animals lack some mental abilities, we regard them as property, the only moral constraint that we observe on our use of other animals is an obligation not to make them suffer. But who is to say that animals don't have consciousness? Animals not only have consciousness, but some have more consciousness then some of us human beings. Thats why, Cartmill is attempting to try to persuade people, mainly philosophers and scientists, that animals have consciousness.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Can Animals Think

    • 2004 Words
    • 9 Pages

    TASK: Write an essay in which you explain how Linden develops his point of view on the question, “Can animals think?”. Begin by introducing and explaining Linden’s point of view. Then, explain how Linden develops that point of view from the beginning through the middle and to the end of the article. Cite relevant textual evidence to support your analysis of Linden’s point of view. End your essay with a statement that follows from the information you presented on how Linden developed his point of view. Your essay should be written in a formal style for an audience that is familiar with the text and follow the…

    • 2004 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Can animals really think? Can they make decisions based on information? For years, scientists have debated these questions. Now many of them believe that some animals have the brain power to understand new situations, make decisions, and plan ahead. many animals adapt their behavior to the challenges they face either under natural conditions or in laboratory experiments. For example, on other parts of Africa chimpanzees select suitable branches from which they break ofg twigs to produce a slender probe, which they carry some distance to poke it into a termite nest and eat the termites clinging to it as it is withdrawn. Apes have also learned to use artificial communication systems to ask for objects and activities they want and to answer simple…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In how smart are animals? The author Dorothy Patent,is informing the audience because, she is trying to inform us about how animals may or may not be intelligent. She said that animals may be intelligent because in one of the stories of animal intelligence is about a girl how hot stuck in a snow drift and her neighbor dog came and polled her out of the snow drift. Another example of animal intelligence is clever hans,clever hans was a horse trained to do work problems by a retired teacher. Hans was able to shake his head up or down or use his hooves to solve problems, some people thought that clever hans was not intelligent because hans didn’t learn how to do that on his own he was trained with a reward that would probably be a treat.…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is interesting to notice that, this statement disputes some psychologists’ belief that language is simple evolved, superior and higher than other animals. In fact, sign using by animals is continuity, because signs don't refer to ideas but to actual situations, then the signs that animals use to communicate do not constitute a language. I really like the Langer’s idea of humans are not smarter than other animals; we are just different. Animals use signs that don't have a pattern or meaning like human language does, does not mean they are not as intelligent as human beings. As a student who took many science classes, there are so many questions in my mind. If Langer’s statement is true, why human beings consider we are on the top of food chain? Are human beings superior to other animals due to human brains structure are more developed? I’m sure there are plenty of scientific research could conduct a conclusion and provide evidence to support; however, I think it’s much more interesting to think about how evolution changed our relation to animals. Many people love to keep pets and most common species are dogs and…

    • 1421 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Umwelt can be described as how a human or nonhuman animal describes the world around them. In a sense, it is how the organism perceives the world through their eyes. Even though we may share the same surroundings, we as humans, do not share an umwelt with nonhuman animals. In De Waal’s book, “Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?”, he gives me a better understanding of the term Umwelt. He explains his experience with raising jackdaws, and their ability to fly. De Waal’s enters the world of flying by viewing them on a daily basis, this leads him to feel like he is a part of their species. Humans will never be able to experience flight like a bird, due to many foreseeable circumstances. By interacting with the species on a daily…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ellen Furlong’s presentation was about the decision making process in animals and what factors affect it. Humans find it easier than animals to detect a difference in large numbers, which is known as the numeric size effect. Animals often use number to remember things, which is known as non-human logarithmic representation. Orangutans for example, use the skill of logarithmic representation to remember beneficial outcomes when in testing, in order to achieve praise. Another habit often carried out by animals is the idea of a linear model. If an animal benefits from a certain approach, the animal often continues to repeat the…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bekoff also writes: "Yes, we do have ample detailed scientific facts to declare that nonhuman animals are sentient beings and there are fewer and fewer skeptics." Suggests that animals can feel and think, and they have the evidence need it to prove it. Bekoff also point that animal skeptics are less and less as time…

    • 56 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    We have that horribly annoying tape that babbles on in our heads incessantly and we feel we are accomplishing something by listening to it. We almost feel that we are not the origin of these thoughts, but rather these thoughts create, mold and shape us. The good news is that animals, plants, minerals, etc. do not have said annoying babble going on. They truly live in the now and just "be". Some human behaviorists suggest that animals do not reason or think because of this. Those of us who work with the animal plant or mineral kingdom have seen first hand that this is not the case. The fact that they don't have constant words going on in their head frees them up for telepathic communication and gives them a better direct line to do so. So how does this relate to you? If you wish to speak to an animal, you generally must ask a question. They will answer if they understand and think the question is relevant. They will not often ask you a question, but it may happen. More importantly, they hear the tape going on in your head almost as loudly as you do, so if you are saying something mean, angry or sad in your head they will pick up on it, and often think they are the cause of it. Another reason it is so important to be careful what you…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    (1) For years, scientists have attempted to teach animals to communicate, but for the most part, their efforts have failed. (2) In the 1950s, psychologists failed to teach a chimpanzee to speak, for the ape was able to grunt only a few words. (3) In the 1960s, however, a chimp named Washoe learned the sign language of the deaf. (4) Washoe came to understand hundreds of words, and he used them to communicate and express original ideas. (5) As it turns out, the great apes have the capacity to learn language, but they cannot speak. (6) This research proved that humans are not the only animals capable of using language; however, they are the most sophisticated users of…

    • 119 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics