Blog Post 6

I am conducting research on the idea that animals do not have to ability to think in terms of cause and effect. I am looking at two different sides of the argument; the scientific side, and the  believers based on experience side. Hopefully these resources will help guide me to a clear conclusion and a good paper.

My first article is one who looks into the scientific aspect of the animal mind. In this article, Joe explores whether or not animals have reasoning skills. He first looks into past controversy over this subject, stating that Theodore Roosevelt believed that “animals are guided by instinct alone”. He then explores the ideas by Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset. Jose has looked at research and found that dogs who are pets, have increased growth in the frontal lobe; the part of the brain that controls the thought process (Frisk). Frisk then goes on to tell a few stories about how he has witnessed his kittens reason, not just go off of their instincts. Unfortunately, there is no way for us to get into the animal mind and fully understand what is going on in there.

My second article is from animal communicator Val Heart. This article basically just describes how animals and humans communicate. It’s a heart and mind thing, almost telepathic . Animals are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. They can speak to us, and know things that we don’t (Heart).  We just have to be willing to listen to them and then learn how. I think that animals can think and they can understand us, but they just lack to ability to verbally talk. But when they communicate with Heart, they are using language.

When it comes down to it, we lack the ability to get into animal’s minds, unless we are animal communicators. But that just leads to us having to either put our trust in them that they are telling the truth, or assume that they are lying.

 

Works Cited

Frisk, Joe. “Can an Animal Reason?.” Joe Frisk Online. n. page. Print. <https://sites.google.com/site/joefriskonline/articles/can-an-animal-reason&gt;.

 

Heart , Val. “Animal Talk Messages: If You Could Hear Your Pet’s Voice, What Would Your Animal Communicate To You?.” Val Heart and Friends. n. page. Web. 14 Feb. 2013. <http://www.valheart.com/blog/animal-communication/animal-talk-messages-if-you-could-hear-your-pets-voice-what-would-your-animal-communicate-to-you/&gt;.