Are Animals Conscious - Term Paper Example

Are Animals Conscious？ The debate about animal consciousness is not a new one. It is one of the areas of science that have never been resolved. Behavioral psychologists and cognitive scientists have had and continue to have their views on the matter, but still there is no common ground. It has been a subject of philosophical thought too. There are those who insist that animals are conscious and others that oppose such an assertion. It is difficult to study and really understand animal consciousness because animals lack the ability to express human language and cannot talk about their experiences. This essay asserts that much as animals do not possess the intelligence of a human being, they are conscious and may express behaviors that exhibit self-awareness and understanding of self. There continues to be uncertainty about consciousness really means. Biologists claim organisms demonstrate consciousness by sensationally perceiving the surroundings and responding accordingly. They further claim that an organism has to store this sensational experience in order to use it in the future in adapting to new circumstances. The most commonly accepted definition of consciousness, however, considers an organism that recognizes its position relative to the environment and how it can play an active role in that environment (Vitti 18). In other words, the organism has to have some sense of self-recognition. Humans mainly rely on their language abilities to validate and express their self-awareness. Were it not for their ability to speak, it would be argued that humans too are unconscious organisms. It is illogical to assume that animals lack consciousness because they cannot communicate with humans using the same verbal language. The school of thought that premises consciousness on the ability to communicate it in the human language is a biased one. There is intelligence in the animal world, just as is in the human world. It would be very easy to assume that animals have no consciousness and that they are unintelligent if anyone expects them to behave and respond to feelings in a manner similar to the human beings. One does not have to enter the animal mind to investigate its self-awareness, yet the behaviors of the animal reveal much more than is needed as proof. Several studies and experiments involving birds such as parrots, and mammals such as rats, elephants, and dolphins have revealed behaviors that echo humans and their expression of consciousness (Vitti 10). The definition of consciousness will not be the focus of this essay. Nevertheless, some issues will need elaboration in order to understand the discussion about animal consciousness. Some researchers have proved that animals possess a sense of self-recognition by using the popular “mirror test.” For example, an experiment conducted in 2008 to investigate self-recognition in some species of magpies found out that they were intrigued by some markings placed on their beaks when they were in front of a mirror (Vitti 35). This observation confirms that the magpies are aware of their bodies. The following are the reasons why this essay asserts consciousness exists in animals. Animals behave in certain ways that signify their responses to environmental stimuli. A majority of scholars have validated findings from researchers that have investigated the relationship between human emotions and behaviors. Apparently, humans display certain behaviors, facial expressions and sounds when they are experiencing different emotions. Interestingly, most of the behaviors are similar to the ones displayed by animals when they are also in different emotional states. Fear is one such emotion that elicits similar patterns of behaviors in both humans and animals. Fear in humans drives them to flee, hide, or defend themselves. This response is motivated by the ability of humans to recognize their lives are in danger and react accordingly. Similarly, animals will either flee or hide from predators that threaten their lives because they have a sense of self. In addition, the animal is unlikely to return to the same spot that exposed it to the predator because it realizes that doing so still jeopardizes its life. The types of fight or flight responses also reflect the ability of an animal to recognize its existence relative to others and the environment. For example, the animal’s fight or flight response would vary depending on the degree of threat posed by the predator. The animal’s response to an aerial predator would differ from its response to the threat posed by a terrestrial predator. The approach of comparing the behavior of animals and the behaviors of humans in concluding the presence of consciousness in animals borrows from time-tested methodologies that compare the adaptive traits of one organism to the possessor organism. Notably, the behaviors of the animals point to something more concrete: attention as a product of consciousness. Attention requires an organism to withdraw focus from other stimuli and mentally engage the mind with one object of interest (Griffin). This is evident in both predator and prey animals. The predators have to focus their attention on their prey. On the other hand, the prey is also attentive to the approach of their predators. Such an ability to be attentive to one object is impossible without the presence of consciousness. At the same time, conflict emerges regarding the role of the brain in controlling behaviors. Fear often ignites involuntary actions in both animals and humans that seem out of control of the organisms (Dawkins). Skeptics of animal consciousness can as well claim that involuntary behaviors prove that the animal behaviors are not the products of consciousness. As much as the skeptics may revel in their new revelation, it is worth remembering that all behaviors in organisms are learned. Learning enables an organism to know the surrounding threats, respond accordingly, and encode the pattern in its brain through repetition. This process is a biological mechanism that allows the organism, whether animal or human, to adapt to the environment. The process of pattern creation in forming involuntary behaviors is evident in the learning of a language, which forms the next topic of discussion. To a great extent, animals have cognitive abilities as well. Alex introduces the concept of theory of mind. The theory of mind is a concept that claims certain mammals can acknowledge the mental states of their fellow organisms (Vitti). The mental states, in this case, include factors such as beliefs, desires, and attitudes. The organism, however, cannot possess this ability if it does not experience the same mental states. Birds are exceptional in demonstrating the theory of mind when interacting with rivals, camouflaging from predators, or hunting their prey. For example, plovers distract predators from their nests by feigning injury while food-caching ravens become hostile to the ravens that witnessed them caching the food. Although mammals perform better than birds in meta-cognitive tasks, their rate of associative learning is distant to the rate of birds. Nevertheless, both the birds and mammals possess distinct brain structures that distinguish their cognitive abilities. The mind theory concept exhibited by the birds is useful in explaining why other organisms experience physiological changes that are similar to the ones found in humans when they are excited. The organisms displaying mastery of their emotions despite having the same physiological processes to those organisms that are still subject to their emotions have higher levels of sentience and introspection (Dawkins). In other words, these organisms can experience their sensations in addition to observing how they respond to these sensations. An unconscious organism is incapable of achieving such a feat. This ability is apparent in humans but is rarely demonstrated by animals. However, a careful observation of dogs would reveal differences in their behaviors when subjected to stressful conditions even though they have been conditioned with the same technique. Each dog would respond to the stressing stimuli in a different manner. Even dogs and horses easily demonstrate the concept of the theory of mind. Dogs would not become man’s best friends without the help of consciousness. The dog recognizes the self and relates its position relative to its relationship with the human. For example, dogs occasionally strive to cheer up their masters when their masters appear depressed. Meanwhile, horses are great track competitors because they use their consciousness to ascertain their positions relative to the other horses on the track field. Animals can learn, and anything that can learn is conscious because they end up acquiring new knowledge, which is a response to training, an external factor. They demonstrate exceptional learning abilities under laboratory settings. An article by Mark Caldwell and Jeffrey Lowe documents the exceptional learning abilities of Alex and griffin, two African Grey parrots that have the ability to decipher abstract objects in their surroundings. These two parrots are exceptional because they demonstrate language-learning abilities that are rare in the animal kingdom (Caldwell and Lowe). For example, student questioners often refute the correctness of the answers given by Alex, even though the answers are correct. However, this parrot is persistently assertive until the questioner cedes ground (Caldwell and Lowe). This assertiveness can only be possible in an organism that fully understand itself and the other organisms interacting with it. Learning in infants often involved declarative memory, which denotes the build-up of memory through word associations. The process of associating words needs the conscious mind to retain them and transform the routine ones subconsciously (Griffin). The evidence of such a pattern in animals is lacking, but the two parrots have demonstrated that this process is potentially active in their brain. Evolutionists assert that associative learning is instrumental in the adaptability of an organism to its environment. In such a case, the organism creates a “library” that allows it to respond to causal factors that can be either actual or apparent. Only a conscious mind would allow the organism to form rapid connections from disparate stimuli. Human emotions are often the result of the changes in their physiological processes. For instance, an individual who is angry, fearful, or frustrated will tend to have activated autonomic and endocrine systems that increase the heart rate and elevate the levels of adrenaline and other hormones (Low). Research studies have proved that animals exhibit the same patterns of physiological processes when exposed to threatening or discomforting stimuli. Although skeptics can claim the similarities in the physiology of the animals and humans are due to biological predispositions, they cannot rule out the role of the mind (Low). How else would they explain why certain animals and humans have mastered the control of their emotional responses in the face of impending danger? Biological predispositions might play a hand, but the same predispositions are the results of evolution and adaptability of the organisms to their environment. In conclusion, considering various experimental research studies involving animals, it can be stated that they indeed possess conscience. Alex and Griffins have exceptional English language skills and spontaneously speak sentences without coaching. The two parrots are proof that they are conscious of their environment. The food-caching ravens demonstrate the theory of mind while the magpies become intrigued by the artificial marks placed on their beaks when they view themselves in front of a mirror. All these behaviors indicate that animals are self-conscious. Although the definition of the term “conscious” remains controversial, it is illogical to accept the exclusive association of the word with human abilities yet animals exhibit the same behaviors and emotions. For a long time, the acceptance of consciousness in animals has remained elusive because they are unable to communicate their feelings through a language that is comprehended by humans. However, the adamancy of humans to acknowledge consciousness in animals has become less feasible with overwhelming evidence that suggest otherwise. The consciousness in humans is often attributed to their ability to learn languages, demonstrate intentional behaviors, and exhibit emotions as results of physiological processes in their bodies. Animals and birds have demonstrated the same characteristics but through different mechanisms. For instance, Alex the parrot is an exceptional language learner, plovers demonstrate intentional behavior by distracting predators from their nests by feigning injury, and the dogs are capable of demonstrating their emotions in sync with their masters. Therefore, the inability of humans to measure these mechanisms scientifically should not be an excuse to deny non-human organisms their right to consciousness. Works Cited Caldwell, Mark and Jeffrey Lowe. "Polly Wanna Ph.D.?" Discover Magazine 01 January 2000. Web. 28 Apr.2015. . Dawkins, Marian. "Animal Welfare and the Paradox of Animal Consciousness." Advances in the Study of Behavior (2015): 5–38. Dennett, Daniel C. "Animal Consciousness: What Matters and Why." Social Research 62.3 (1995): 691 - 711. Griffin, Donald R. Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. Low, Philip. The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness. 07 July 2012. Web. 28 April 2015. Vitti, Joseph. The Distribution and Evolution of Animal Consciousness . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 2010. Document. Read More