Non human cognition

[Wolfhnd]

The degree or kind debate goes on .

 

 

Chimps prefer roasted potatoes, hinting at origins of cooking

 

"The animals frequently carried raw food across a room to cooking devices. Some chimps even saved food for later cooking opportunities. Mental abilities such as causal reasoning, self-control and planning enabled these behaviors in chimps, as in humans, the scientists contend."

 

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/science-ticker/chimps-prefer-roasted-potatoes-hinting-origins-cooking?tgt=nr

 

The authors use of the terms causal reasoning, self-control and planning is sure to raise the hackles of many a philosopher and scientist. The question of how unique human consciousness is remains an important question.

 

What do you think?

 

I tend to think that language is a cognitive tool making culture an unavoidable barrier to human like consciousness in non human animals.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Wolfhnd

[StringJunky]

I think you can extrapolate useful information on the level of cognition against language ability by studying the development of deaf children vs normal hearing children. I'm a life-long severely deaf 53 year old, so this has been of some interest to me. The long-and-short of my literary meanderings is that , yes, lack of language is a barrier to utilising ones cognitive and social-interactive ability to it's full potential. Language creates a coherent and stable structure for the brain to properly organise and retrieve information. It improves the ability to learn and retain what is learnt.

Edited June 3, 2015 by StringJunky

[Wolfhnd]

I think you can extrapolate useful information on the level of cognition against language ability by studying the development of deaf children vs normal hearing children. I'm a life-long severely deaf 53 year old, so this has been of some interest to me. The long-and-short of my literary meanderings is that , yes, lack of language is a barrier to utilising ones cognitive and social-interactive ability to it's full potential. Language creates a coherent and stable structure for the brain to properly organise and retrieve information. It improves the ability to learn and retain what is learnt.

 

Thanks for replying. If you have time and the interest I would love to hear more about your experiences.