Church stance on animal intelligence

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stmax

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Intellect, intelligence, instinct, reason, emotion, free will. What does the church teach that animals have. There seem to be some very intelligent animals out there.

youtube.com/watch?v=MXR2xZrF5SA
youtube.com/watch?v=Gpfvkeo0KBc
youtube.com/watch?v=U2lSZPTa3ho
youtube.com/watch?v=oHk43wyk9cM

These videos seem to suggest that animals have emotions, morals, and reason. At the very least they seem to break out of basic instinct, which would seem to point towards some sort of reason or free will.

This evidence seems to show that animals share intellect at least which is traditionally associated as a unique ability of humans/angels/God.

What do you think?
 
I do not believe that animals have the capacity for intellect or reasoning. Some animals can be trained to do things (ever see a dolphin show?), but I do not think they would do it on their own in the wild.
 
I don’t think it is possible to discern whether animals have a soul from appearences and actions. A soul is something completely internal, and its effects on animal psychology and behavior would be impossible to measure and observe! Immagine that robots had reached a level of intelligence indistinguishable from human beings. The robots may behave and act like humans in every respect, but they still would not have souls.
 
stmax said:
Intellect, intelligence, instinct, reason, emotion, free will. What does the church teach that animals have. There seem to be some very intelligent animals out there.

youtube.com/watch?v=MXR2xZrF5SA
youtube.com/watch?v=Gpfvkeo0KBc
youtube.com/watch?v=U2lSZPTa3ho
youtube.com/watch?v=oHk43wyk9cM

These videos seem to suggest that animals have emotions, morals, and reason. At the very least they seem to break out of basic instinct, which would seem to point towards some sort of reason or free will.

This evidence seems to show that animals share intellect at least which is traditionally associated as a unique ability of humans/angels/God.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
No formal teaching but Catholic philosophers have traditionally taught that animals do not have the kind of intelligence that humans have. So called animal intelligence is purely instinctual, there is no reasoning to it. Man’s intelligence is entirely different and special to man only. 👍
 
Animals most definitely possess intelligence, reasoning ability, and emotions. They absolutely can feel pain as well.

They do not experience these like humans do- but they do at some level, have some capability for it.

They do not have “free will”, and they are completely incapable of sinning. They do not possess an eternal soul. However, they are perfect and good in God’s eyes, and continually praise him by their very existence, following the laws of nature.

For example, take sheep. They are commonly maligned as some of the most stupid creatures, but they are in fact quite intelligent. I will not spend a long time discussing this, but if you are interested, plenty of research is available. They have excellent facial recognition skills, long-term memory, and are very good at “reasoning ability”, for example, how to escape. Sheep can self-medicate. They have complex social behavior and most of the behaviors that appear stupid are purely self-preservation instincts. Human beings do the same in such situations. Sheep in the UK learned how to roll over horizontal cattle panels to escape. They didn’t learn this because a person taught them. Plenty of other such examples exist. However, trainability is another sign of intelligence. Sheep can easily learn their names and the voice and appearance of their shepherd, and can be taught tricks and learn to pull a cart or do many other things.

Emotionally, animals can and do feel some form of anger, joy/excitement, contentment, fright, and even grief. We are using human labels on emotions that we cannot experience in animals, so we are just going by how it appears to us. I believe they can feel love in some way- maternal love as well as friendship. Sheep form close bonds with individuals in the flock and can do so with a person too.

Pain is something that I hope we can all agree that animals experience. Generally though, they are more stoic about it and don’t complain like we humans do, and it can be harder to detect. Wherever possible, analgesics should be used whenever something painful is to be done.

I think that animals possess a “soul”, but it doesn’t exist anymore when an animal dies. It’s the life force, if you will. In Hebrew, the word soul has the same meaning as breath. Humans, on the other hand, being created in the image and likeness of God, are created with an immortal soul.

Hope this helps! I’m interested in what others have to say on this topic as well.

Pax et bonum!
 
nukelos said:
It is also important to remember that man was the only one given a rational soul: The capacity to know and love.

here is a link to the question “do animals have souls?”
catholic.com/quickquestions/do-animals-have-souls-like-human-beings

Aquinas should have something to say about that too…But I am not about to dig into his Summa just yet.
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You’re right, of course. I was focusing mostly on the animal aspect…I assumed the human rational soul understanding was a given…:o

Humans are special, but I am constantly in awe of God’s handiwork in our fellow (animal) creatures!

An interesting thing I though of is, it seems to me that “animal” is derived from “anima”, meaning soul.
 
stmax said:
Intellect, intelligence, instinct, reason, emotion, free will. What does the church teach that animals have. There seem to be some very intelligent animals out there.

youtube.com/watch?v=MXR2xZrF5SA
youtube.com/watch?v=Gpfvkeo0KBc
youtube.com/watch?v=U2lSZPTa3ho
youtube.com/watch?v=oHk43wyk9cM

These videos seem to suggest that animals have emotions, morals, and reason. At the very least they seem to break out of basic instinct, which would seem to point towards some sort of reason or free will.

This evidence seems to show that animals share intellect at least which is traditionally associated as a unique ability of humans/angels/God.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
Well, animals are never held responsible for their actions because they do not have a human’s cognitive capacity. In other words, if you’re out in the woods and get mauled by a bear, you don’t sue the bear. If your dog is on a leash but bites someone passing by - even though he never did that before - you, not the dog, are liable.

Peace,
Ed
 
Animals do indeed have a soul, by definition. Soul in Latin is anima. An animal is a being possessing anima.

It is not, however, the same as a human or “rational soul”, which is issued only to human beings and among its other functions, generates the human mind. Whatever some animal species can achieve does not equate to the human mind; although their sharper senses can compensate for this.

It is also said that the animal soul (somewhat redundant expression) cannot, unlike a human being’s, survive death. I am not sure why that is.

ICXC NIKA
 
Everything that lives is motivated by a spirit, and thus has a soul. On CAL awhile back, I listened to Colin Donovan explain how humans have a rational soul, while animals have sensitive souls and plants have vegetative souls.
 
Per Aquinas, there is an animal soul and even a vegetative soul. Whether some or all animals go to Heaven or some other afterlife, or whether they will be reborn to populate the new earth that God will provide for us after our Resurrection, or how God provides for them after death, is ambiguous and subject to personal interpretation. We will know soon enough. The Catechism teaches:
2416 Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory.197 Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.
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2417 God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.
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2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.
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One cannot be cruel or cause suffering to something that doesn’t possess feelings, emotion, and intelligence, in whatever form its soul may possess. I cannot cause suffering to a divan, or to a computer program, or to a robot, but I can only cause suffering to something that has feelings and emotions and some degree of intelligence to recognize the pain as suffering.

Animals often display emotion - the shame exhibited by a dog when reprimanded, the joy they exhibit when you return home, the affection they provide to us, are obvious signs that they have feelings, and often feel deeply. (Dogs exhibit such signs of joy, guilt, and longing that they can be naught else but natural Catholics.) Animals can be “good,” in that they act to provide us aid and comfort, and can even form cross-species friendships and bonds of affection. That animals are capable of reason is apparent from the market for the variety of squirrel-proof bird feeders, none of which are really effective at outwitting the mind of a squirrel. My personal opinion, and that’s all it is, is that God will provide providentially for all his creations, and that it is possible we will see old friends with tails upon our physical resurrection.
 
Arizona_Mike said:
Per Aquinas, there is an animal soul and even a vegetative soul. Whether some or all animals go to Heaven or some other afterlife, or whether they will be reborn to populate the new earth that God will provide for us after our Resurrection, or how God provides for them after death, is ambiguous and subject to personal interpretation. We will know soon enough. The Catechism teaches:

One cannot be cruel or cause suffering to something that doesn’t possess feelings, emotion, and intelligence, in whatever form its soul may possess. I cannot cause suffering to a divan, or to a computer program, or to a robot, but I can only cause suffering to something that has feelings and emotions and some degree of intelligence to recognize the pain as suffering.

Animals often display emotion - the shame exhibited by a dog when reprimanded, the joy they exhibit when you return home, the affection they provide to us, are obvious signs that they have feelings, and often feel deeply. (Dogs exhibit such signs of joy, guilt, and longing that they can be naught else but natural Catholics.) Animals can be “good,” in that they act to provide us aid and comfort, and can even form cross-species friendships and bonds of affection. That animals are capable of reason is apparent from the market for the variety of squirrel-proof bird feeders, none of which are really effective at outwitting the mind of a squirrel. My personal opinion, and that’s all it is, is that God will provide providentially for all his creations, and that it is possible we will see old friends with tails upon our physical resurrection.
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I needed to see this today, thank you. I put my loving beagle down this morning. I adopt older dogs, Petey was a ‘nobody’ wanted type pooch and I took him in August of 2009…I am beside myself today. I know that dog was crazy, in every way…but the emotional, loving bond that we attach to these animals must somehow be ordained by God. I’m done with anymore…it is as if I lost a family member, a child in some ways. R.I.P. Petey…I sure do hope we see them again…at least thats what I’m praying for!
 
DENNYINMI said:
I needed to see this today, thank you. I put my loving beagle down this morning. I adopt older dogs, Petey was a ‘nobody’ wanted type pooch and I took him in August of 2009…I am beside myself today. I know that dog was crazy, in every way…but the emotional, loving bond that we attach to these animals must somehow be ordained by God. I’m done with anymore…it is as if I lost a family member, a child in some ways. R.I.P. Petey…I sure do hope we see them again…at least thats what I’m praying for!
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I’m very sorry for your loss, and hope you do see each other again. I will pray for you, and will thank God for the years of happiness he gave you.

You may find this piece from Crisis as comforting as I have:

crisismagazine.com/2011/but-do-bad-dogs-go-to-hell
 
I consider myself a bit of an animals rights person, I enjoy the work done by groups like Greenpeace, Sea Shephered, Mercy for Animals, and plenty of local orgs from no kill shelters in my town to rescue centers for marine wild life…

I do not though put any animal on this planet above that of the human race and our relationship with God.

Animals do display levels of intelligence, reasoning, social behaviour, emotions of what appear to be effection.

But again they do lack free will, If God wanted animals over humans or to be on the same level as humans it would be pretty obvious,

animals would be able to interact with God just as we do…

they can not.

BUT that doesn’t mean that God doesnt take care of an protect these animals, after all they serve a purpose on this planet, they play a vital role in our existance, an so knowing that God put them on this planet with us, we are charged with taking care of them and protecting them from those people who do just do not even regard animals as anything but a wild beast with nothing in them at all.

No animal deserves to be abused, or hunted to extinction, they can not call on God for help so they rely on us to do it for them.

and we are told that our pets do not go to heaven, least from what i can remember…

The way I look at it, God put these animals on the planet to be our companions on a certain level, they are an instant friend if you will given to us, I can only hope that God will let me be with my friends He gave me once again in Heaven when the day comes; as deep is my faith in Christ, is how as deep was my friendship with my friends I had for the short time I did an i cant help but still miss them from time to time.
 
stmax said:
Intellect, intelligence, instinct, reason, emotion, free will. What does the church teach that animals have. There seem to be some very intelligent animals out there.

youtube.com/watch?v=MXR2xZrF5SA
youtube.com/watch?v=Gpfvkeo0KBc
youtube.com/watch?v=U2lSZPTa3ho
youtube.com/watch?v=oHk43wyk9cM

These videos seem to suggest that animals have emotions, morals, and reason. At the very least they seem to break out of basic instinct, which would seem to point towards some sort of reason or free will.

This evidence seems to show that animals share intellect at least which is traditionally associated as a unique ability of humans/angels/God.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
Considering that the Vatican has expressed an openness about the possibility of alien life, I think that it’s entirely possible that there are animals out there that may even far exceed our own intelligence.

Whether an animal can love and hate, however, seems to be a question that is separate from intellect.
 
Animals have a material soul that ceases to exist when they die. Humans have a spiritual soul that continues to exist after death.
 
MidnightSun12 said:
Considering that the Vatican has expressed an openness about the possibility of alien life, I think that it’s entirely possible that there are animals out there that may even far exceed our own intelligence.

Whether an animal can love and hate, however, seems to be a question that is separate from intellect.
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In the context of earthly animals, if any had a cognitive mind comparable to ours, it would be quite obvious. ISTM that is not the case.

As to aliens, I’ll believe when I see them.

ICXC NIKA
 
GEddie said:
In the context of earthly animals, if any had a cognitive mind comparable to ours, it would be quite obvious. ISTM that is not the case.

As to aliens, I’ll believe when I see them.

ICXC NIKA
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My grandma said she saw them! 😃
 
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