10-20-2019, 07:31 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-20-2019, 07:32 AM by Bill the Piper.)
(10-20-2019, 05:31 AM)Ldr Wrote:(10-20-2019, 05:23 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote:(10-11-2019, 09:33 AM)Ldr Wrote: I agree, Bill, but it is important to notice that all of the concepts you mentioned hold true for animals too, although humanism is obviously replaced with the correct species name.
I don't think so, since animals don't have the brainpower needed to grasp these concepts. They can be loyal to their pack like dogs, wolves and bonobos, but nothing more. Do you really think a dog is capable of "species solidarity" with oppressed dogs in a puppy mill?
Bill, concepts like altruism and empathy do not require "brainpower" in the way I believe you see it. Altruism and empathy are emotions, and animals like humans and chimpanzees have these emotions. We humans have created advanced languages to talk about these emotions and form them into concepts, but that's all, they're in no way human "inventions".
Altruism and empathy are indeed instinctive and animals are capable of them. But expanding one's horizon of identification beyond one's pack or immediate family does require abstract thinking. A dog can empathize with another whimpering dog, but it cannot conceive the idea of all dogs as a group with shared interests.