Do you believe animals are aware of their existence? ?

Question

I heard somebody say that animals are not aware of their existence, or "self". Do you agree or disagree?

Answer 1

No, I don't agree.  Animals are living things too, they have feelings.  I'm sure they're smart enough to be aware of themselves.

Answer 2

Disagree. How could they not be aware of themselves?

Answer 3

humans are animals, and most humans are  self-aware.

Answer 4

Some animals clearly demonstrate that they realize they are looking at themselves when they have a mirror placed in front of them.

Apes I know for sure have demonstrated this because I saw the experiment.

What was done is researchers marked a chimp with grease paint and then placed a mirror in front of them.

Upon observing themselves in the mirror the chimps would try to wipe away the paint.

This is clear evidence that they have identified themselves in the mirror and that their image has changed as compared to the last time they observed themselves.

But I think this has only been observed in primates, and some say that certain sea mammals are self aware but I am not sure of how this was tested.

In terms of justifying eating animals I believe survival is a perfectly valid reason.

Humans are omnivorous we need large amounts of protean.

Further the domesticated animals that we eat benefit in as they have their survival needs guaranteed as a species where as there would be no such guarantee in nature.

Further we would not have been able to evolve large brains without sufficient protean intake during the evolution process.

I respect your ethical concerns over the treatment of animals but simply put life feeds on life.

It is only in modern civilization that humans can even concern themselves with such ethical dilemmas.

Answer 5

...i disagree...animals are just another species we haven't truly learned to communicate with...

Answer 6

Animals are not aware of the future. They have feelings yes. but lets say they are not self aware. I recently watched one of my dogs die. it took about two months. She didn't suffer. She just got weaker and weaker. All thw while not understanding what was going on.  

Answer 7

they should cuz they seem to be aware of everything else

Answer 8

disagree of course their aware of their existence that's like asking do monkeys scratch their butts duh! lol

Answer 9

Yes they do have awareness. They are created creatures, not humans. So they don't have a living soul. They dont have self purpose. They were created by god on 6th day of creation, as also man was created on the 6th day too. They were created for us to have dominion over.  

Answer 10

I think awareness is a continuous spectrum, rather than a binary state.  Some animals (humans, dolphins, and some apes) are more aware than others.  I've heard that dolphins and some apes are able to recognize themselves in a mirror, although I'm not absolutely sure about that.

I think the greater an animal's thinking capacity, the greater it's self-awareness.  So, humans, other primates and dolphins are quite self-aware, but sea sponges aren't as aware.  However, I think all animals have some level of awareness.

Answer 11

animals certainly have feelings but they are not aware of them. most animals don't figure things out, they don't wonder. they can't act against their emotions. their emotions guide them 100% that's in fact why we evolved to have emotions. if you can't know falling of a cliff kills you, evolution must have found a way of getting you not to fall off cliffs. that way is fear of heights, our emotions are evidence, remains of our unaware period of evolution, that animals are not self aware.

but some of them are, like apes, dolphins and elephants. so don't feel guilty about eating farm animal meat, they have no idea what's going on. it's like killing a fly in that way. but if you eat dolphin or apes or elephants, that's different. so not buying ivory, or tuna since dolphins die in their nets, makes sense.

Answer 12

Of course animals are aware of their existence, even more than we are. I believe they know more about the world and life than we do because they are closer to God. Like how birds know when to fly south, and animals can sense when storms are coming and things like that.

Answer 13

of course they are aware. they feel pain dont they? and hungry and happiness. Do you not have any pets? if you do watch them and check out their emotions. its amazing

Answer 14

Disagree. Some species display an amazing degree of social competence which implies they have some idea about putting their existence in relation to their surroundings. I once had an aviary full of parakeets and one specific cockatiel decided he was more into humans than his fellow birds. He spent his time with us outside the aviary rather than with his feathered friends. He had an incredible ego (given his size) and quickly learned how to interact with us humans to get all the things he liked. He had moods and reacted much like a human child would. He was super jealous when we got a dog and outsmarted and teased the dog whenever he possibly could.

That bird understood a lot. He was sad and knew exactly what was going to happen when I packed my suitcase. The word "peanuts" made him jump with excitement before he even saw them. He would pose in front of my webcam and watch himself in the screen, and I think he knew it was him, uneasy to see that he looked like the other birds which he otherways avoided. That little fellow certainly had a significant degree of self-awareness, how could he otherways have adapted so well to a human environment all by himself, outside any of his genetic programming?