Final-Fan said:
Smidlee said:
Final-Fan said:
@ Smidlee:
"As one scientist warn before be careful impling morals to animals especially those that have been influenced by man. There is no doubt we, humans, can change animal behaviour including leaning toward our morals (good or bad)."
I'm assuming this was in reference to ManusJustus' post which inclueded the truly excellent video of monkey business: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAFQ5kUHPkY
Apparently, then, you are ready to concede (unlike Slimebeast) that animals are capable of learning morals? Obviously you say they can pick them up from humans one way or another. Well, in that case, why is it so impossible that humans came up with morals themselves? Or hell, inherited them or picked them up from earlier Homo species? |
Our control over animals has to do with food since that all they understand. Yet a poor person who just found a wallet of a wealthly person with $5000 in it will either keep the money or return it.
As in this video if someone was to give you something for free wouldn't the moral thing to do is to be thankful (say "Thank you") even though may have gave another person something better?
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Food is really almost the only commodity available to animals, so obviously that's what they're going to focus on. Just because we have created money to embody wealth in a more abstract way doesn't make it fundamentally different from if there was an orange worth $5000 in that wallet. Or for a more realistic example, think back to the 1500s in Europe when spices were ridiculously expensive.
And remember that the monkey was actually trading a white chip for food. Another monkey trading the same chip got way better food; the monkey felt the researcher himself was being "immoral", or unfair, in his trading.
Also, if I saw someone handing out bread to the homeless, and one guy got a big cake for no reason, I would wonder why, and I would ask if I could think of a good excuse to insert myself into the situation. Including if I was one of the guys who didn't get cake.
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Mankind does many things that has nothing to do with food (or sex) , like sending man to the moon. And the monkey trade the chip only because time and time again they are rewarded for food. This again doesn't mean an ape understand the concept of wealth/money. This is man trying to imply something human onto an ape.
The ape was not only unthankful but eventually force the grapes out of the man's hand. Obviously the ape does not understand the concept of stealing and had no problem taking the grapes from the man's hand. Also the other ape which was giving the grapes didn't really care to share his grape to the other ape.
Watching these apes reminds me of some selfish children fighting of their parent inheritance that just passed away, afraid one will get more than the other. There is nothing moral about this kind of action.
