Higher consciousness in animals

[Justtristo]

There is very good reason to believe not just humans have the sort of highly developed consciousness that theologians associate with having a soul. For example; there is a test called the mirror test, in this test animals are shown a mirror with a reflection of themselves. Essentially it shows the self-awareness level of the particular animal, only a few other species apart from ourselves pass this test which are the following; chimpanzees, elephants, humans, bottle-nose dolphins, Orcas, European magpies, Pigeons and rhesus macaques. Interesting enough humans fail this test until they are 18 months old. Also there is good evidence to suggest a high level of intelligence among Great Apes, Elephants and Whales. The question that arises that could these different species have what theologians consider a soul, which only humans are supposed to have.

Indeed in the case of elephants it has been observed they have a very good memory and have behaviours such as mourning their dead. This article from National Geographic explains this in a little detail. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...nes_2.html. Also with Whales communicate in complex languages like our own with their own regional dialects.

[RosaRubicondior]

The questions could these different species have what theologians consider a soul, which only humans are supposed to have.

Why theologians assume self-awareness requires an imaginary person living inside you is a mystery which only theologians can answer. For science, it's only necessary to show other species have self-awareness.

However, I'm not convinced the 'mirror test' shows intelligence and /or self-awareness and not just how closely other species resemble humans in their psychology. It seems to me to be anthropocentric to assume higher intelligence means 'more human-like'. I really can't see how any sentient animal can function without a degree of self-awareness. Watch a squirrel navigate through the branches of a tree and ask how it could do so without self-awareness and an ability to plan a route to a future with itself in it.

[Anomalocaris]

Does the way a cockroach navigate the branch differ in some fundamental way from the way a squirre would, so cockroaches would by the same standard be said to not show high intelligence or awareness?

Experiments seems to show a very modest collection of simple autonomous reflexes as might be programed into theoretical brain of only a few thousand neurons can closely mimic the collection of behaviors seen in a cockroach.

[Darwinian]

There is very good reason to believe not just humans have the sort of highly developed consciousness that theologians associate with having a soul. For example; there is a test called the mirror test, in this test animals are shown a mirror with a reflection of themselves. Essentially it shows the self-awareness level of the particular animal, only a few other species apart from ourselves pass this test which are the following; chimpanzees, elephants, humans, bottle-nose dolphins, Orcas, European magpies, Pigeons and rhesus macaques. Interesting enough humans fail this test until they are 18 months old. Also there is good evidence to suggest a high level of intelligence among Great Apes, Elephants and Whales. The questions could these different species have what theologians consider a soul, which only humans are supposed to have.

Indeed in the case of elephants it has been observed they have a very good memory and have behaviours such as mourning their dead. This article from National Geographic explains this in a little detail. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...nes_2.html. Also with Whales communicate in complex languages like our own with their own regional dialects.

What some theists don't seem to grasp is that it's not that animals are more like us than we realise it's the fact that we are far more like other animals than we think. Many of these qualities that were so arrogantly assumed to be human only are not only shared with many other species on this planet but also first arose in them.

That's where we got them from in the first place!

[ib.me.ub]

Some atheists have trouble grasping this concept also.