Autotheism.

echi wrote:

Disagree, Kickycan. What makes humans different in any special way from other species?

(and don't you want to know the freakin' punchline?!)

Cognitive thought. And yes, tell me the punchline!!! But I won't be back to see it until later.

Bye for now!!!

0 Replies

Kicky,

Quote:

Do animals have the have the ability to think cognitively, as humans do?

Debatable.
Gorillas can do sign language. Seeing eye dogs can negotiate heavy traffic situations via ordered rules and choice-making. just a couple of examples, theres more.
It is rather polemic to draw a line and say, this side, humans, thats side, animals. There is no 'humans and animals', there is a vast geneological tree of which we happen to tip one branch. Although it may be the highest branch, it is still just a branch, not the whole tree.
Intelligence is a massive greyscale which we scarcely understand. We define intelligence by a human standard..ie the more 'human like' something is, the smarter it is. I find the whole concept of intelligence to be flawed. People tend to see it as an entity when it appears to be a multi-spectrum.

Quote:

We are not the same as other animals. Period.

Plenty of animals have unique characteristics. That they have them does not make them any less 'animal'

0 Replies

I bet armadillos think they're pretty special, too.

0 Replies

echi wrote:

I bet armadillos think they're pretty special, too.

I am fairly certain, through experience, that cats feel they are the superior life-form on this planet, and who's to say they aren't?
I mean..we give them food, shelter, attention, healthcare, entertainment, and in return......
...they let us.
So much for us as the dominant species.

0 Replies

Well, the armadilloes in my yard digging all those holes must think they are pretty danged special all right.

Cats? My favorite saying is: "Dogs think they are human; cats know (cats) they are Gods.

0 Replies

I agree with you, Doktor. Animals are certainly capable of cognitive thought, i.e., the ability to learn, reason and remember what they have learned.

If I would say the difference between human beings and animals would be instinct. Although animals are highly instinctual, I don't believe there is any conclusive evidence that human beings are at all.

0 Replies

Lone H--

Sure we have instincts. It's just that we're so domesticated that we hardly ever rely on them, at all.

0 Replies

There is nothing that sets humans apart (in any special way) from the other species. One thing that I think humans are much better at than most is our communication skills (which have led to everything else that makes us think we're so special).

0 Replies

Nothing that sets apart? Not one thing? What about the ability to think and reason?

0 Replies

Other animals got it, too, Momma.

0 Replies

What instincts have human beings demonstrated?

If you leave a wolf cub alone in the wilderness there is a good chance it will survive, purely through instinct. You can't say the same for a human child. I don't believe there has ever been a time in history when a human child could have survived on its own, purely by relying on instinct.

0 Replies

echi,

What other animal can think and reason? Can you give a hypothetical scenario to an animal and it will reason it out?

0 Replies

echi wrote:

There is nothing that sets humans apart (in any special way) from the other species. One thing that I think humans are much better at than most is our communication skills (which have led to everything else that makes us think we're so special).

What about our perception of time as a continuum?

Warning: This could lead to a discussion of free will.

0 Replies

No instincts?
Tell that to a room full of gawking men at a strip bar, or two men fighting violently over a woman.
Or a big game hunter.
What separates war from instinctual animalistic territoriality? What separates materialism from same?
Not much, if anything, from my POV. Our instinct is our root, our bio-programming. that it isn't the same as other animals is not evidence for it's nonexistence.

0 Replies

LoneHaranger wrote:

If you leave a wolf cub alone in the wilderness there is a good chance it will survive, purely through instinct. You can't say the same for a human child. I don't believe there has ever been a time in history when a human child could have survived on its own, purely by relying on instinct.

A wolf cub, from just born to a few weeks, would most likely not survive in the wilderness alone. Humans take more time to develop than other animals, but that in itself doesn't negate the contention that humans have instincts.

There are many stories of feral children, each apparently having been abandoned at different years of age, living alone or among other animals in the wild or the streets of cities. The youngest that I've read about had been abandoned around the age of three.

0 Replies

Doktor S, I think you're referring to sexual desire in your example which is something apart from the innate "knowledge" to which "instinct" refers.

How does the wolf cub somehow "know" how to provide food for itself and what type of food it needs? It seems humans must be taught this information or learn through trial and error.

I'm just referring back to what I learned in several psychology classes I took while in college. Although many studies had been done, there was no conclusive evidence that humans had any detectable "instincts" as animals do.

However, it's been some time since I was in college. There may be some new developments by now!! Smile

0 Replies

Wait a second. What is the debate, here? That humans are not animals? Or just that humans don't have instincts?

0 Replies

Actually, I thought the topic was autotheism and the fact that Doktor S thinks he is a god.

0 Replies

Momma Angel wrote:

echi,

What other animal can think and reason? Can you give a hypothetical scenario to an animal and it will reason it out?

I have no doubt that all animals can think and reason. Why would I? After all, we are animals and we can do it.

0 Replies

That does not answer my question, echi. If you give a hypothetical scenario to an animal (non-human), will it have the ability to reason it out?

0 Replies

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know