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Originally Posted by lynn P.
I enjoyed the monkey throwing the cucumber lol.
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Me too.
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Also their behavior is conditioned by either others in their pack, outside the pack and in cases of domestication....the people around them.
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Isn't ours? From my understanding, we have the mental capacity that allows us to have moral understanding (well, most of us
), to determine right and wrong, fair and unfair. And our upbringing and culture moulds our sense of right and wrong. This may be why, except for some very extreme cases, we see very similar core morals among the many different cultures.
Their moral understanding might not be as complex as the average humans, but it still seems that they have the essential building blocks (empathy, decision making skills, a sense of fairness) for complex moral understanding. And maybe they do have a moral system that's more complex than we think, we just haven't developed a language to be able to communicate with them well enough to fully understand it.
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Did you see that video of the dog who got hit by a car of a busy highway and another dog grabbed the dog, then dragged him to safety?
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I did just now. Very brave of that dog.
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I suppose it comes from caregivers, parents, societal interactions ingrained at a young age and reinforced throughout childhood. I've had a deep sense of right and wrong from a young age.
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I mean in a deeper sense. Are morals constructed as a result of societal influence? Or were societies created because we had this basic understanding of fairness and justice and so on? Chicken or egg? And what compels us to abide by these laws? Simply because we don't want to get caught? Or because we desire to be fair? Why do people do good when no one is watching?
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Originally Posted by Open Eyes
In my own experience with horses, I have noticed that there are unique personalities to each horse, some are more intelligent and athletic then others and yet some are very gentle and caring compared to others. But I have never experienced two horses/ponies with the same personality/looks/overall presense as others. I have found that it is much like us in that respect.
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I noticed too. It helped profoundly on the racetracks. I always bet for the horse who knew what he was doing. Never lost.
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Originally Posted by *freak*
Psychology: It is possible to traumatize animals. Animals rescued from labs for example act and behave completely differently from other animals of the same species and usually never recover. Animals whose owners used to beat them or that have experienced a traumatic event early in their life exhibit abnormal behaviour when "triggered".
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Speaking of which... During my youtube research, I found a video of a female elephant who killed and ate around 17 people because a group of people killed her calf.
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As for a moral code... I think that's a little more complex. It depends on your definition of a moral code and on many other things. In all honesty I couldn't answer your question with a "yes" or a "no".
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I'm not sure. How does one define morals? How do we judge the moral character of people?
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One thing I'm absolutely sure of, though. What you won't find in an animal is unfounded hatred, prejudice or malice. If you think about it those are things we find only in humans. Wars, genocides, torture, slavery, abuse, systematic slaughter of dozens of species, destroying one's own habitat... all these exist nowhere in nature but in the human species. In this sense, if I had to pick who's more moral - animals or humans - I'd say animals in a heartbeat.
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I don't think animals have built weapons of mass destruction yet, but chimps have been known to go after outsiders. Like us, they appear to have a sense of in-group and out-group...