Quote:
Originally Posted by emptypepsi
Are humans any different from other animals? I've heard arguments such as a dog will give it's life to save an owner, which gives it compassion and choice. I've heard that squirrels save nuts for the winter, giving them the ability to plan -- all traits that we have. But is there anything that really makes us different? If so, what do you think that is? Common answers tend to be logic, the ability to belief, consciousness, greed, malice. I'll post my opinion, but I'd like to hear others first.
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While animals may 'think' in one sense, they don't think as we do. They can't, as they lack a complex symbol system of language in which to think.
It is primarily language which seems to differentiate us from 'lower' spieces. Our capacity to make abstract symbols.
As to a dog defending its owner - it's all due to the pack instinct, the very thing which makes dogs domesticable. It has absolutely nothing to do with 'compassion' - that is a typical human misreading of canine behaviors.
I love dogs, but I have never for one moment deluded myself into thinking any dog has compassion or any other feeling which is not wholly instinctual and aimed at survival goals.
For a predator like a dog, compassion is totally irrelevant. It has no survival value for a wolf pack.