Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Emotions

Here's another article by Edward Willett, this time on the subject of emotions in animals. He says that, thanks largely to Jane Goodall's convention-breaking research on chimpanzees, scientists are more willing to allow that animals feel emotions.

Like any astute observer needs scientific proof, but it is good that the walls of blindness are crumbling.

It is interesting how, in the article, there are numerous attempts to weasel (my apologies to weasels) out of ascribing a full emotional life to animals. He suggests that people are having fewer children, turning to animals for companionship, and hoping the animals have feelings for them. I suggest that if people are turning to animals for companionship, they are paying attention to them.

That reminds me... tomorrow I should post a story of the rewards of paying attention.

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