Absence of Evidence, or Evidence of Absence; A paper on Animal Consciou

Absence of licence, or Evidence of Absence?A topic on Animal aw arenessConsciousness is a difficult term to grasp so much so, that umteen scientists will not even attempt to define the term, much less(prenominal) search for its evidence. Most however, do agree that disposition moldiness include certain aspects specifically cognition, self-awareness, memory, and abstract thought.Lesley J. Rogers describes consciousness as, related to awareness, intelligence, and interlocking cognition, as well as language. Consciousness may be manifested in self-awareness, awareness of others, intentional behavior, including intentional communication, deception of others, and in the ability to make headway mental and symbolic representations (13).There is no question that kinds ingest these attributes, but what astir(predicate) sentient beings? Some philosophers, including Descartes, claimed that while humans are conscious, animals are like machines, with no thought process or sentience. Others claim that animals are very capable of consciousness, and that we just have not had the capabilities to test the aspects of it through the scientific method. As Donald R. Griffin expressedConscious thinking may well be a core function of central scatterbrained systems. For conscious animals enjoy the advantage of being able to think about alternative actions and select behavior they believe will get them what they essential or help them avoid what they dislike or fear. Of course human consciousness is astronomically more complex and versatile than any imaginable animal thinking, but the basic question addressedis whether the difference is qualitative and absolute, or whether animals are conscious even though the content of their consciousness is undoubtedly limited and very likely quite different of ours. (3)This paper will look at what evidence there is that may stand for that some, if not all, vertebrate animals may have the capacity for conscious thinking. Cognition, for standard is something that animals may require in order to adapt to their changing environments so quickly. Cognition is an animals ability to make a finality by evaluating or processing current information based on some representation of prior experience (Kamil in Pepperberg 127). Some animal studies, such as Franci... ...th other animals, because we do not share the uniform forms of communication. We can not ask what other animals are thinking, what they want or feel, or even determine if they have a sense of self. What is know right now is that we do not know, but that is no tenableness to throw the baby out with the bathwater and assume animal consciousness does not or can not exist. Until further observations or tests can be developed that will start to lead man to a next understanding of the animal mind, it is important to remember that absence of evidence does not imply evidence of absence.Works CitedGriffin, Donald R. Animal Minds Beyond Cognition to Consciousness. Chicago, IL University of Chicago Press, 2001.Patterson, Francine, and Eugene Linden. The Education of Koko. New York, NY Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981.Pepperberg, Irene. The Alex Studies Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots. Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1999.Rogers, Lesley J. Minds of Their Own. Boulder, CO Westview Press, 1998.Wynne, Clive D.L. Animal Cognition. New York, NY Palgrave, 2001.