Do you believe animals are just big bundles of behavior or can they reason?

Answer 1

Animals mostly act out of innate behaviors or simple learning, like Pavlovian Response. While dogs learn to be house trained, I think it's a stretch to call this "reasoning." It's more like learning to salivate when someone rings a bell before feeding time.

However, anyone who's had a clever pet knows that sometimes an animal steps the bounds into basic reasoning. For example, my cat learned that when his paw is wet and he rubs it on the door, it makes a squeaking noise that helps him be heard so we let him in. That may just have been simple Pavlovian response. The cat also gets upset when we pack for a trip, because he knows he'll be stuck inside for days. Possibly another Pavlovian response. Once when we were packing for a trip he kept meowing and meowing to go out, (and we kept ignoring him, because he needed to be shut in while we were away). Then he suddenly ran into the bedroom where I keep my water glass by the bed, splashed his paw into the glass, soaking it, and ran back to the door and started rubbing his paw on the glass, squeaking it loudly. He didn't stumble across this working and pick it up by habit, he connected the idea of having a wet paw not only with getting indoors, but with getting the door to open. He knew that dipping his paw in a water glass indoors did the same thing as walking through a puddle outdoors. To me, putting all this together crosses the boundary into simple reasoning. I have many other examples of this level of reasoning from this cat.

Still, nearly every example I usually hear people cite of how brilliant their pets are is usually exaggerated, or a misunderstanding on the person's part of how a very simple neurological mechanism can lead to fairly advanced seeming behaviors without actually requiring much thinking on the animal's part. Most stories of animal intelligence need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Answer 2

Well. Reasoning is a behavior. Behaviorists essentially view a brain as a black box. Any creature, from mice to people act in response to their surroundings. A humans response may be more complicated and involves more factors. None the less according to a behaviorist a human with identical genetics raised in an identical setting will behave identically just that same as identical rats raised identically. Obviously they accept that actually creating identical scenarios is impossible, if for no other reason then quantum mechanics. People like to think differently of human and animal brains, however they are identical in their mechanisms. And for that matter our brains are just complex computers. So given two brains in identical states an electrical impulse cause an identical response in both brains, ie. they both come to the same conclusion.

Answer 3

I truly believe my dog’s reason and then communicate with me. I know they understand words but they also have someway of corresponding to me, maybe through ESP, (if you believe is this). Either of my dogs can sit and look at me and I know what it is they want. Now I don’t know if this is ability on my part or if this is common with all dog owners. Our dogs also do things to get even with us if we do something they don’t like. For example if we leave them at home when we are gone for the day. They will always do something they know is wrong. This must take reasoning. If we forget to give them a treat after we eat they look at us in such a way that we know their feelings are hurt and they feel we have mistreated them. When I pick up their toys and put them in the toy box they will take them right back out and put them back to where I picked them up. They know where they want their toys to be. Doesn’t this take reasoning? I could go on and on with examples but the fact is that dogs are a lot smarter then most people give them credit for. Scientists have taught many animals to figure out the right response to certain situations which gives them the opportunity to reason it out. Just because an animal can’t speak a human language does not mean they can’t communicate their wants or needs. I believe communication in any form takes thought and reasoning.

Answer 4

You ask what I believe: I believe animals can reason more than they are given credit for but at a lower level than man. Of course scientists would state otherwise.

Answer 5

Well dont predators do it all the time when they hunt? For example if you have ever seen a cat/dog hunt a mouse?...usually they chase a mouse under something like a woodpile or a couch for example how do they determine where it will come out again? well from watching my friends dog hunt mice in her house I noticed that after the mouse ran under the couch (usually not always, sometimes the chair) he would run entirely around the edge of the object without sniffing or being able to see the mouse underneath he would choose a spot and wait very still about 8 out of 10 times after a few minutes the mouse would emerge directly in front of the spot that he chose to occupy and 8 out of 10 times he would catch the mouse by staying very still until it tried to run by under his nose....How did he know where the mouse would choose to emerge from? What was his reasoning behind choosing that particular spot? ( I might add that the mice did not choose the same route every time and yes I had fun watching him catch the little buggers my friends house was infested) After watching him do this all of the time I started to think really think and imagine that I was the dog and how I would choose the most likely spot for it to come out of, I can to the conclusion that it had to be through reasoning because there was no pattern to the choices that the mouse made but there were other factors that needed to be considered.....for example where my friend and I were sitting seemed to have an impact because almost every time the mouse would make his exit as far away from where we were sitting talking about if the dog was going to catch it or not...the dog seemed aware that this was a factor and never chose an ambush spot directly in front of either of us but how did he come to that conclusion?? The only explanation I have been able to come up with is that he reasoned that the mouse would be discouraged from going near us because we were talking and moving around, and he must have known or reasoned that the mouse was scared of people and would be least likely to exit his hiding place anywhere near us. ( I might add that the few mice bold enough to make this manoever survived) What other factors were involved in his decision? well I can really know any other ones for sure because I myself was probably only right in guessing where the mouse would exit 1 time out of 10 because other than the aforementioned factor of where we were sitting I didn t really know what other factors the dog considered the only thing I knew from watching him was that it most likely wouldnt exit in front of or near us. I can only surmised that he considered other factors like the next closest sheltered spot, maybe his own scent, the darkest most shadowed areas that afforded cover for the mouse, etc. but how to explain it all!! I mean he had to reason in some way like I imagined what I would be thinking if I was him...Ok I know the mouse is afraid of me and wont come out unless I stay still, i also know that the mouse is afraid of people and most likely wont go that way, the couch is closest to the chair so he might make a run for the safety of the chair, but its pretty open between here and there and I know they like to run along the edges of walls or table legs so that they wont be as noticable.....hmmm I think he will make a run for it along the edge of that pile of magazines, where it is dark and shadowy and try to make cover under the Tv stand......and that is where I will sit very still and wait to see if I am right.(obviously he didnt talk to himself like a person would but he had to have thought it out somehow) I mean how else could he correctly pick where the mouse would exit 9 times out of 10 without sniffing around and trying to see where the mouse was under the couch?? He literally would run around once and then lay down in his chosen spot until the mouse practically ran right into his mouth!! If that isnt reasoning than I dont know what is!!

Answer 6

both. instinct is a major factor but they can learn and that shows the ability to reason. for instance wolves hunt in packs and go after the weakest sometimes setting up ambushes.

Answer 7

I think most animals can understand reason, they just don't want to! Like alot of guys!! *No offense*

Answer 8

Animals can certainly reason. And they make choices also.

Answer 9

I believe they can reason. Of course not to major extents but yeah they can reason

Answer 10

They have some reason. Dogs do learn to poop outside so they won't get punished. That is reason.