Digging through the archives at Ask Metafilter, I stumbled upon an awesome discussion from last month. User showbiz_liz writes:
What are the arguments for and against the idea that animals have self-awareness?
I’m in an anthropology class called Moral Consciousness that discusses human conceptions of selfhood. It’s a very interesting class, but I have one problem with it- the professor has stated several times, in an off-hand, of-course-this-is-true sort of way, that ONLY humans have selfhood. He seems to have a basic assumption that animals don’t, and that humans have overcome their instincts in a way that animals can’t.
I’ve always been very interested in the idea that humans and animals are far less different than we usually assume, and I’m not sure if I can just accept my professor’s assumption without some evidence. I’m reminded of statements like “animals don’t use tools” and “animals don’t have emotions” that were accepted for years and later disproven. So, when he says that only humans are capable of thinking of themselves as “I”, or of rejecting food when they are starving, or of sacrificing themselves, or of thinking abstractly, it bothers me that he isn’t presenting any evidence. I’m not sure if there actually IS evidence for these things, or if they’re just baseless assumptions.
So- where can I find some decent evidence for and/or against my professor’s statements? Are there actually papers and studies on the question of animal self-awareness?
Last year, I wrote that researchers have concluded that elephants are self-aware. One commenter notes that primates and dolphins have also passed tests of self-awareness.
From the discussion at Ask Metafilter:
- It seems obvious that animals have emotions. My own experience backs this up. Every animal I have ever known has moods, and most seem to have emotions of some sort. I’m not always able to decipher their exact emotions — is my cat sad, angry, or just bored? — but it seems clear that they’re feeling something.
- It also seems obvious that different individual animals within a species have different levels of intelligence, just as different humans have different levels of intelligence. Again, I’ve known some very smart cats. But I’ve also known some cats who were as dumb as posts. There’s some sort of statistical distribution at play.
Anyhow, this thread isn’t too long — it can be read in ten or fifteen minutes — and it’s filled with fascinating discussion on the subject. Well worth your time if you find this subject interesting at all.
[Ask Metafilter: Dogs: People too?]
13 responses so far ↓
1 somebody;) // Dec 8, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I think that mammals are self-aware.Sure,you have primates,elephants,and dolphins that can pass a mirror test,but there is some evidence besides that.Ther was that metacognition test for rats.Social animals,like dogs and horses,have
social hierarchies within their groups,and so it
would seem that they would have a sense of self.
They have to learn where they fit in amongst the
other animals.Perhaps some mammals use scent
to distinguish between themselves and others.A
dog can differentiate between its own scent and the scent of others.
2 jim // Dec 9, 2007 at 4:17 pm
i dont believe animals are self aware - i think they all run on instict and agree (as in domestics) they read emotion - 2 emotions, if they are considered so, are self survival and procreation(which the later, might well( in the grand scale of things) come under self survival).
but regardless, that shouldn’t mean we take for granted and breed them for easy food . . . . . . . .
looking from an aliens view , how inhumain are we
3 jim // Dec 9, 2007 at 4:26 pm
wake up and smell the coffee—————————————————————————————-we have enveloped the whole world, there is no stronger mental animal on this planet, damn, we breed them, eat them, wear them, sit on them, its a f###ing prodution line, and me;you;everyone are the controllers.
if i was a self aware animal, i’d be praying for a new ice age…………………better luck next time- GOD. back to the dinos, they could understand the circle of life - IGNORANCE IS BLISS -
4 C. Breedlove Weaver // Dec 24, 2007 at 12:05 am
I was watching survival stories on Larry King tonight and he interviewed a surfer who told how he was attacked by a great white shark and was saved by a dolphin pod. This incident made me extremely curious. I’ve heard other stories of dolphins saving humans. What does this actually MEAN about the thinking, behavior, and intelligence of dolphins? I’m extremely interested in what is actually going on with these creatures.
5 M@ // Dec 29, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Are animals aware?
*I* am. This debate reminds me of Julian Jaynes’ theory about how humans only became “conscious” six-thousand or so years ago.
Are WE aware?
6 Bill Meacham // Feb 10, 2008 at 4:35 pm
There is lots of research that indicates that some animals have a sense of self. I’m currently reading _Moral Minds_ by Marc D. Hauser, which cites lots of it. I plan to read his _Animal Minds_ as well. Instead of (or in addition to) relying on anecdotal evidence or supposition, look at the scientific literature.
7 Natalie // Feb 28, 2008 at 6:47 am
Yes, there is a lot of research. Mark Bekoff has a number of books on the subject, including animal emotions. If you search through studies on consciousness/philosophy of mind, you can also find sources, as well as looking at different books on animal ethics. These sources refer to scientific studies and provide an analysis of them. American Zoologist also has a special edition from 2000(?) or so just on this topic, that includes a number of studies on all kinds of different species.
8 Doug // Mar 9, 2008 at 5:56 pm
It has been proven that chimpanzees and orangutangs do have self-awareness through various comparative psychology experiments. If you want to research this topic for yourself then you should go to a university library and search for animal self-awareness in the American Psychological Association (APA) journals.
9 Joy // Mar 17, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I asked my dog and she said, “what kind of a stupid question is that?” So there ya go.
10 Edward // Mar 23, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Animals live in the now and are not stuck with all the crap associated with a so-called “human mind”. Self-aware is not necessarily a good thing. Humans live in the past and the future which really have no existence at all. It’s always NOW. Humans think because they can dominate other sentient beings that they are automatically better, more valuable or more intelligent. Many animals have abilities that humans will never have. It’s going to be devastating to some when they realize that as a life form they are no more or less valuable than a mosquito.
11 leinaD_natipaC // May 19, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Hey, I bet you would find this interesting: this is an extract from national geographic’s march 2008 article on animal intelligence:
“Although imitation was once regarded as a simpleminded skill, in recent years cognitive scientists have revealed that it’s extremely difficult , requiring the imitator to form a mental image of the other person’s body and pose, then adjust his own body parts into the same position-actions that imply an awareness of one’s self.”
I think this is pretty convincing, even if you tried to give out excuses for whatever other experiments have been done.
12 Dr. Leslie Brown // Jun 3, 2008 at 6:13 am
Hello, I’m an ex-scientist. I studied Materials Science for 10 years. What a great blog!
I think the notion that animals are self-aware doesn’t even need testing. Of course they know they exist! And I’m sure than many animals have feelings, not just the mammals.
I’d go so far as to say that amost all multi-celled animals communicate with eachother to some extent… even things like cuttlefish are intelligent enough to communicate amongst themselves. They can be communicating with one cuttlefish using one side of their body, and a second cuttlefish using the other side. If that doesn’t show a great level of intelligence, I don’t know what does.
By the way, you might like to see this article I wrote about animal intelligence:
http://tenerife-training.net/Tenerife-News-Cycling-Blog/2008/06/inspirational-people/animal-intelligence/
Thanks,
Leslie.
13 Satine13 // Jul 25, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Are animals self-aware?
Well, it has been scientifically documented and widely accepted that bottlenose dolphins, apes and elephants are self-aware.
I personally think that there are far more animals that are self’aware than has been identified yet, and I also take in to account the varying levels of intelligence between these creatures, as the parallel to human intelligence was previously explored.
That “animals do not use tools” and that “animals do not have emotions” is clearly incorrect. More and more evidence is mounting as people are actually witnessing animals using tools like sticks to get bugs, open nuts or rocks to smash shells to obtain the meat inside. Examples of a few animals who use tools-Woodpeckers, Finches, Egyptian Vultures, Hooded Monkeys, Chimps, Green Herons, Crows, Macaws, even Sea Otters. I find it grossly dissapointing to meet individuals who haven’t observed an emotion on a living creature outside of humans. Maybe they have mispoken; to say that one has never heard the calling of a baby to the mother; a yelp, a whine, a cry, a whimper, or purr; to never have interpreted a wagging tail and ears straight up is just simply not true. Most people know when thier dog is happy, excited, embarrassed, or miserable, and all of those are emotions. Animals display physical and verbal signs of thier physical and mental status, it’s just not common for humans to be able to interpret these signs. Things we do not easily see are rarely acknowledged. Fortunately, many, and more and more, people now have the time to sit and watch and think and learn about the most basic aspects of nature.
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