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Are animals consciousness essay
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How does human consciousness differ from animal consciousness? This was the topic given to my group in the first presentation we gave. Well, while looking at the topic for the first time, the image of my pet at my home flashed on my mind. I won’t use “it” to refer my pet. He is one of us! The way he is with all of us, loving, cute, understanding, showing intelligent responses that always surprises us and makes us happy. Yes! He does understand our language (Telugu), he shows his interests/likes through his actions, he cries/shouts when we leave him. He always wants to go roam outside, when my mom says “come, we will go out” in Telugu it comes running with mouth wide open with happiness to her. When sometimes, I myself don’t know what is being …show more content…
To her, at least, he has more emotions than we do. All these thoughts came into my mind when I saw this question. And my answer was… it is human consciousness is no way different from animal consciousness till I started reading about this online. To know the difference, we must know each one of them completely. For that, we defined the term consciousness. So, consciousness is “Consciousness is the quality or state of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. It has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind”. Pre-adding “human” term to consciousness i.e. human consciousness is “Anything that we are aware of at a given moment forms part of our consciousness, making conscious experience at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives” and on the other hand animal consciousness is “The quality or state of self-awareness within an animal, or, of being aware of an external object or something within itself”. After reading this, I felt, yes, my pet is aware of himself as well as any external object. To quote an instant
A question that continues to puzzle scholars (and Honors students, alike) is that of what defines human consciousness. It would be simple to say that it is defined by one’s awareness of itself and of its surroundings. What makes the question so difficult to answer, though, is that consciousness is much more than an acute awareness; it is the process of becoming aware, finding the purpose of our consciousness, and building morals and intelligence from that awareness that entangles those who search for answers in a web of utter confusion.
As there are many different schools of Buddhism, each with different principles, there are also many different views on consciousness. First, we'll turn to the "Consciousness-Only School" also known as Yogacara Buddhism. According to the Consciousness-Only school there are eight parts of the consciousness. The five sense-consciousnesses, those related to the senses. There is the sixth consciousness, called the sense-center consciousness, that which forms our conceptions. The seventh is called the thought-center, the consciousness related to will and reasoning. And the eighth consciousness, called the storehouse consciousness. The storehouse consciousness basically "stores" our past experiences. The consciousness are in a constant state of change, the seed is constantly being influenced by the inward flow of perceptions, and the seed itself influences the perceptions (Chan 371). This train of thought is most similar to the existing model of cognition and memory encoding.
In the Introduction to “The Social Animal”, David Brooks offers a synthesis of new research which challenges our understanding of, as he says “how the conscious and unconscious minds interact.” Specifically, Brooks argues that the processes. As the author, he puts it, “Rob actually shiver[s] as he escort[s] Julia back unconscious and conscious mind interact through how the control is divided up. The unconscious mind controls body movement while the conscious mind controls thinking to her car. His heart [is] palpitating and his breathing [is] fast. […] Vague sensations [sweep] over him, which he [doesn’t] understand […] because their sensations had not cohered into any conscious message” (Brooks 15-17). We can see from this example that Rob
Consciousness is a very common and much used word used to describe the condition of being awake and aware. In other words, being conscious means responding to the environment, in contrast to being asleep or in coma. But in philosophical terms, consciousness is defined as the state in which humans are able to clearly distinguish between themselves and all other
Gereal P. Mallon (1994) states there are numerous reports in literature that exemplify the value of human contact with animals. Studies have indicated animals such as dogs play an important role in not only socializing, but a significantly greater role in humanizing children. Dogs in particular due to their interactive and affectionate nature have become increasingly effective in adjunct therapy settings of children and youth. Piaget (1929) revealed in his research a stage in child development that it is inherently natural for a child to attribute human characteristics to an animal. Cartoons, fairytales, and mythology designed for children often depict animals as important roles of human interaction. Children are even found to project their inner feelings onto an animal, which they perceive as loving. These animals too do not talk back or argue which provides the continuous degree of nonjudgmental interaction essential to a child’s recovery process.
Consciousness is a concept that is socially constructed to define a real, yet abstract phenomenon. The point of defining consciousness, in Combs words, is to take an metaphysical idea, something that can not be understood directly in itself, and turn it into an object for humans to understand from a concrete perspective. For the purpose of this paper, the type of consciousness that will mostly be discussed can be described as having consciousness, an adverb that is understood as an experience, not solely the state of being alive (Walden. Lecture. 8/24/16). To define consciousness in words does not do it justice, as it is comprised of the intangible and feelings. Yet, consciousness directly effects the physical world. According to *** , the meaning of consciousness arises in
Certificate III EAL (Access) Student Name:FAN KIT KONG ID : GEC000000K VU21469 Unit Assessment Task 1 My Beautiful dog 1. My beautiful dog. 2.
Pets are viewed as ice-breaking catalysts to group communications, since they not only establish a safe and friendly atmosphere for communication, but also provide topics of conversation. Studies show that “companion animals, specifically dogs, expose their human companions to encounters with strangers, facilitate interaction among previously unacquainted persons, and help establish trust among the newly acquainted persons” (Jackson 6). Animals often stimulate individuals to socialize with other people, since the animals are a prefect topic to start conversation. Researches also indicates that people perceive those who are together with an animal as trustful and friendly. A peaceful animal can inspire empathy and trust between individuals, establishing a good emotional basis of friendly communication.
Consciousness is not just the conscience, or the contents of the mind, but is the biological phenomenon permitting to survey the feelings, thoughts, and feelings of our mind. Consciousness is an elaborate rite of passage into these feelings, thoughts an knowledge that makes us humans (Ramamurthi, Gopal, Mohan, & Rao,
I am writing in reaction to the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness that was publicly proclaimed on July 7, 2012, at that university. Where in scientist behind the paper declared, "Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, & neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates."
He contends in an article in the British Medical Journal: Not until a machine can write a sonnet or compose a concerto because of thoughts and emotions felt, and not by the chance fall of symbols, could we agree that machine equals brain—that is, not only write it but know that it had written it. No mechanism could feel (and not merely signal, an easy contrivance) pleasure at its successes, grief when its valves fuse, be warmed by flattery, be made miserable by its mistakes, be charmed by sex, be angry or depressed when it cannot get what it wants. (p.1110) Megill (2014) agrees and adds that emotion also plays a role in things like selective attention, storage and retrieval of memories and facial recognition.
Some 60 percent of United States households contains pets (Sanders, 1990), with that number being over half it reveals how much animals impact everyday life. The companion animals are often part of many people’s identity. According to Sanders, a sociologist, says, “companion animals… represent the social identity of the owner.” The animal shapes their identity in many ways. Many people talk to their dog the same way they would talk to another human.
“Consciousness is defined as everything of which we are aware at any given time - our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions of the external environment. Physiological researchers have returned to the study of consciousness, in examining physiological rhythms, sleep, and altered states of consciousness (changes in awareness produced by sleep, meditation, hypnosis, and drugs)” (Wood, 2011, 169). There are five levels of consciousness; Conscious (sensing, perceiving, and choosing), Preconscious (memories that we can access), Unconscious ( memories that we can not access), Non-conscious ( bodily functions without sensation), and Subconscious ( “inner child,” self image formed in early childhood).
One scientist, Damasio, provided an explanation how emotions can be felt in humans biologically. Damasio suggested, “Various brain structures map both the organism and external objects to create what he calls a second order representation. This mapping of the organism and the object most likely occurs in the thalamus and cingulate cortices. A sense of self in the act of knowing is created, and the individual knows “to whom this is happening.” The “seer” and the “seen,” the “thought” and the “thinker” are one in the same.” By mapping the brain scientists can have a better understandi...