2) Humans, Reason, and Animals (ch 8)
158. MULTIPLE CHOICE: According to what we learned in this class, which of the following can connect an input with a reasonably appropriate output, without consciously understanding what they are doing since they are just "pre-programmed" this way? a. plants and computers, b. animals c. humans
A
161 (f) According to what we learned in this class, animals have reason.
ANSWER: FALSE. Notice that this is simply another way of asking question (a) above.
160. MULTIPLE CHOICE: According to what we learned in this class, which of the following can connect an input with a reasonably appropriate output, AND can conscisouly understand both the PHYSICAL and ABSTRACT meanings of what they are doing? a. plants and computers, b. animals c. humans
C
161. (a) According to what we learned in this class, animals have abstract ideas.
FALSE (That was the point of comparing their way of doing things to ours - that was the one thing that they lacked, and it is an important thing!)
161 (d) According to what we learned in this class, animals have sensations.
ANSWER: TRUE. Yes, they have eyes and ears and noses that apparently work very well!(
162 (b) Then, ACCORDING TO WHAT WE LEARNED IN THIS CLASS, what DOES, most fundamentally, set us above the animals in the order of perfection, so that the WAY we do these sometimes similar behaviors is in fact radically different from the WAY the animals do them?
ANSWER: Reason (and will, too, by the way)!
162 a) Reason and will are - most fundamentally - what sets humans above animals in terms of our level of existence, showing that our souls (unlike animals' souls) have spiritual (that is, real but non-physical) existence. What are some SPECIFIC examples of human behaviors that are affected by reason and will, so that even if sometimes some animals do something similar, we do not do them in exactly the same WAY as animals? (NOTE: Make sure that you do not just repeat something like "reasoning" or "thinking abstractly" or "making intelligent choices" as your example. The question asked you for a DIFFERENT example, so don't just give different wording to express the same thing that was given to you in the question. We went over lots of specific examples in class - like the fact humans build temples to non-physical divinities, argue over different abstract theories about forms of government, analyze physical events in terms of abstract laws of physics, discuss life after death (a non-physical topic), etc.)
1. religion 2. government 3.communication 4.only humans show evidence of life after death 5. animals use laws of physics but only humans show evidence of consciously reflecting on the laws of physics in the abstract 6. art/architecture
161 (i) NOTICE that what all these answers have in common is this: They are identifying the POINT of what we covered when comparing animals and humans, which is that animals show evidence that they can understand and think about only the PHYSICAL meanings of things, whereas humans can understand and think about both physical AND non-physical (abstract) meanings of things.In other words, animals show evidence that they can analyze events in terms of only physical meanings (like food, playing, mating, colors, flavors, odors, feelings, emotions). But humans show evidence that they can analyze events in terms of both physical meanings AND non-physical (abstract) meanings (like "Did that live up to the ideal of fairness? What is true generosity? Is there a God? Do I have a non-physical, immortal soul? Why is this music so beautiful, in terms of the mathematics behind it? What is inertia, and what formulas apply to it? What abstract laws of physics were exemplified by that squirrel's amazing, successful jump from tree # 1 to tree # 2?" etc.).
161 (i)
161 (h) According to what we learned in this class, animals can imagine physical things as being different.
ANSWER: TRUE. That's still a way of thinking of things in terms of physical objects, physical features, and physical feelings, and animals definitely do that kind of thing all the time!
161 (e) According to what we learned in this class, animals have consciousness.
ANSWER: TRUE. Yes, contrary to Rene Descartes (a view not promoted in the book or in this course), our book and class lecture clearly accepted that animals are not just robots programmed to fool us into thinking they are conscious! They REALLY ARE CONSCIOUS!
161 (c) According to what we learned in this class, animals have emotions/ feelings.
ANSWER: TRUE. Yes, just watch their behavior - your dog loves you and hates the cat next door!(
161 (g) According to what we learned in this class, animals have memory.
ANSWER: TRUE. Yes, they definitely remember physical things, physical features, and physical feelings! Just watch how they behave. For example, that's why we can train them - they can remember what they were taught!
161. (b) According to what we learned in this class, animals can figure things out by thinking about them in terms of memories of physical objects, features, and feelings, and imagining how those physical objects could look or feel different.
TRUE (That's still a way of thinking of things in terms of physical objects, physical features, and physical feelings, and animals definitely do that kind of thing all the time!)
