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miz1q2w3e on 12 May 2012
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badgenome said:
miz1q2w3e said:
badgenome said:
miz1q2w3e said:

@First paragraph: like I said, maybe you should try checking some stuff out if you want/are interested. For example: link

Thanks for the link. It was interesting, although not anything terribly new to me. (I work in lab animal science and so read a lot of science journals and talk about this sort of stuff a lot.) But it's important not to anthropomorphize these behaviors too much. They are not an example of animal morality. They are more like a primitive system of ethics that is entirely practical for the survival of intelligent, highly social animals.

You're welcome :)

Are you religious? That's the only reason I can think of as to why you would speak the way you do about the subject. Otherwise, isn't the bolded the same as with humans?

Ethics is not the same as morality. Morality is individual and can lead to unethical and/or self destructive behavior, and I would argue that it requires free will. No chimpanzee is going to sacrifice itself because it feels it's "the right thing to do", and a chimp isn't capable of asceticism. As I said before, animal behavior is 100% about self preservation and self gratification.

And no, I'm not religious at all.

I see your point, but think about this: A mother chimp, for example, would probably sacrifice herself to save her young one. The box that was too heavy for one chimp experiment showed that one is able to sacriface their comfort (so to speak) for the benifit of another, even though they don't get anything immediate in return. What about the chimp who refused to take his treat until his friend was treated fairly?

Now you may argue that the motive in the first example is perhaps to ensure the survival of the species, or something along those lines. The second example may have been motivated by future compensation/repayment. My question is, how is that any different from humans?

I'll admit, I probably don't know as much on the matter as you do. Do you see the similarities, though?