are any animals other than humans capable of conscious thought?

Question

please give detailed answers

apologies, i'm not sure what i think about this but aren't these examples you're giving me just instinctive behaviour?

by conscious thought i mean awareness of self (ego) and ability to make decisions rather than just acting on instinct

jen now we're getting somewhere!! that is genius x

Answer 1

I don't know how you would begin to prove or disprove animals ability for conscious thought but I would have to say gorillas that have learned sign language demonstrate that they do. Instead of just mimicking the words they learn because they know it brings them food or whatever, they are able to put words they learned separately together in a way that makes sense. They have huge vocabularies. Look up the Gorilla named Coco and i believe you will find evidence that she has a sense of self and reacts with more than just instinct.

add on:
I was thinking about this and I think the opposite question is kind of interesting too. Are human beings the only animals without instincts? I know people will argue with me and say they do have them but things like food, sex, need for shelter are drives not instincts, and things like a baby sucking when something is put to it's lips is an example of reflex not instinct. We need conscious thought because we need to learn everything we do.

Answer 2

I think Jen is correct. My conscious thoughts require a language. Cocoa has learned a language. The language is symbolic and is representational. For Cocoa to give any signs to a human, Cocoa must be able to formulate concepts and then to express them.

All life does not share a common language. In the same way that we were taught a language, some animals can also be taught a shared language for mutual understanding.

Answer 3

I was under the impression that dolphins and some apes are the only animals who make conscious decisions rather than instinctive ones

Answer 4

Sometimes when it comes to animals, it is hard at separating instinct from possibility of conscious thought. I think all animals can be remarkably smart in thier own way though.

1. Birds who fly south for the winter, know when to fly, and why to.

2. A bear, altering its sleeping habits because of humans, changing to nocturnal to better survive. Knowing when to hibernate. Sending its young up trees to protect from predators. Spending months showing its young places of available food sources.

3. Domestic pets. Always come to sit with us when we're sick. Or maybe they just want food lol.

4. Chipmunks. Painstakingly gather food for over the winter for months before it comes, gradually making a pile that will hold them through the cold season.

Answer 5

Not that I'm aware of. I'd imagine that other animals act based on instincts and wants, rather than conscious decisions.

Then again, I could be wrong. I'm no expert.

Answer 6

i do no longer think of it truly is authentic that neuroscientists won't be able to clarify how persons have unsleeping stories. Sensorial stories and their emotional and cognitive effects could nicely be defined neuroscientifically, and debates persist approximately whether understanding is nicely volitional and cut loose psychoneurodynamic techniques or no longer. understanding, cognition, memory, habit, and character are mediated by way of shifting and dynamic neuroelectrochemical systems in the innovations that can transform if some thing takes place that incites a radical replace in innovations chemistry (like an ailment, actual harm, psychological trauma, toxicosis, or religious or altered-state adventure.) technology aside, it truly is my remark as a protracted-time religious practitioner, that maximum individuals are actually not unsleeping or rather volitional yet act and react in terms of conditioning. whilst human beings communicate approximately having finished understanding or enlightenment stories, they're speaking approximately dramatic paradigm shifts in neurochemistry such that the neurological kinds of the previous self are scrapped and a sparkling self, arranged to be newly conditioned--perhaps extra volitionally (ie, they are in a position to invent themselves quite than have nature and nuture do so, as is the way forward for babies)--by way of latest, neural pathways. Edit: i might upload that a guy or woman has a unsleeping adventure, mockingly, yet *no longer* thinking yet watching and being thoroughly open to the cutting-edge 2d. thinking easily impedes understanding through fact it truly is loaded with conditioned responses.

Answer 7

Dogs may be capable of 'logical process' allowing them to achieve a result by a series of actions. Example: My son's German Shepherd deliberately hid his shoes behind a toilet pedestal to prevent him leaving the house. The dog had worked out that the shoes were a prerequisite of his intended departure and by hiding them his outing might be prevented. Whether some breeds are more intelligent than others is debatable.

Answer 8

I think so there are. Conscious thought may be equated with intelligence. There are a lot of smart animals like dogs, dolphins, even a pot bellied pig.
How would you explain true stories about dogs saving their masters' lives? Isn't that a conscious thought if you are referring conscious thought that way...

Answer 9

By conscious thought, do you mean the ability to do something in anticipation of an outcome? If so, then there is a lot of evidence from primate and rat research that the answer is yes.

But I suspect you mean something else. So, please be more specific about what you're getting at.

Answer 10

I absolutely think so. Living with three dogs, I see that they are loving, caring, protective, intelligent and so many other things. They know when it's dinner time, they remember where you hide the chew bones when they fight over them, they are wonderful companions and smart beyond belief. Yes, they have conscious thoughts. Pax - C