Does Descartes Argument Against Animals Have Minds

Examples such as these and many others had lead many scientists to the conclusion that many animals are a great deal more intelligent and conscious than previously conceived. These show that animals in fact do act from knowledge. Descartes says that it is action only from the "disposition of organs" that delineates humans from animals. However, the actions described clearly go beyond the disposition of the Raven and crow's beaks. Some may argue, however, that these actions are simply the product of natural selection. In response to what end would nature "select" an orangutan's ability to wash clothes or a bird's capacity to count and/or name objects. Other skills as well argue

Language is a form of communication and can be portrayed in many different ways not just vocalization, this is shown by those that use sign language rather than vocalization; these humans still have complex language but they lack the necessary organs or capabilities to produce all of the sounds needed for vocal language; similarly, some non-human primates use different interactions as language not just production and combinations of sounds. Non-human primates do not have the ability to vocalize the way humans do because they lack vocal cords, control of the necessary vocalization, and other speech organs, but that does not mean that they cannot effectively communicate through language with other non-human primates or with humans as well.

As nonhuman primates seem to be able to communicate meaningful messages, the question arises whether our ancestors developed language from a similar state.

Human beings are the highest in the order of primates, they are followed by monkeys and apes. Examples of lower primates are lemurs and bushbabies. A primate is a mammal that usually has forward-facing eyes and hands, they may also be considered social animals. The closer a primate is to ‘human capability’, the higher it is in the ranking of primates. The definition of language can be used to determine the accuracy and validity of linguist, Chomsky’s claim. Language can be verbal as well as physical. It is the way by which we communicate, it is therefore a social tool. Communication is the exchange of information. Types of communication include speech, writing, facial expressions and sign language. In this essay I will particularly focus on Dr Sue Savage-Rumbaugh’s language experiment with Kanzi the bonobo, a relative of the chimp with support from other experiments such as the Gardners research into Washoe. I will also consider the differing definitions of language to reach conclusions as well as the nature, nurture debate.

It is impossible to know how exactly how an animal thinks but research has shown that chimpanzees are very intelligent animals and in some aspects they are more intelligent than humans.

Further expanding on social habits of chimpanzees, their communication habits should not be overlooked. They have several and many different

The fifth feature to compare is reciprocity. This is where any sender of a language signal could also be the receiver, and features in both human and apes. Communication is only truly reciprocal when the receiver knows the language used by the sender: if an Englishman shouted to Frenchman the receiver would not be able to understand the message and therefore would not be able to respond to the original call. In the case of the trained chimps, Lana who used pictograms on a screen, would not be able to communicate with Washoe, who was trained with signs.

The ability to separate the essential aspects of human language from the properties of a particular language can shed light on how language is developed and where the differences come from. A principle feature of human language is the duality of patterning. It enables us to use our language in a very economic way for a virtually infinite production of linguistic units. All human language have a small limited set of speech sounds. The human brain has featured strongly associated with language. The human language contains discrete units, which would serve to disqualify the bee language system. Humans require a language to have discrete units is not just an arbitrary regulation to disqualify. The discreteness enables the elements of the language to be combined into an almost infinite number of phrase structures and for these phrase structures to be transformed. It is a striking fact that all people in the world, even those in isolated communities, speak a language.

People have been trying to figure out if there indeed is a connection between human language and the way that animals communicate. For the longest time they believed that this is one distinction between humans and animals; the ability to speak, think, and communicate. One such example was given by Descartes during the 17th century when he said, “I think therefore I am” meaning partially that in his mind animals are incapable of thought and speech. That they therefore in that area were more automaton than human like, somewhat disparaging against Darwin’s Theory more than a century later. Although Descartes follower La Mettrie pointed out the similarity between chimpanzees and deaf people

Some species have developed the skills to communicate through languages and even symbols similar to humans, but the most astounding overarching theme is that all animals develop language skills a similar pace. In the simplest form, the yellow canary and the human speech development are very similar. At the start, both species mirror one another. “Both

Apes are the model organisms in the field of animal communication and neuro-scientific studies. Apes DNA is about 98.6% similar to humans possessing cognitive, emotional and psychological characteristic which closely resemble humans. Not long ago scientists started studying primates because of these characteristics and most of the work is in the field of cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. Phylogenetically, primates and human fall under the same branch called Hominidae and non-human (primates) are human’s closest living relatives. Primate’s method of communication is mainly through gestures and their own language. Similarities and differences between human and primate vocalizations can be studied for comparative research and holds a great prospective to elucidate the evolutionary processes that formed human language and speech. Humans and primate, both communicate through a language which is unique to them and vocal behavior and gestures are an important trait that both the species possess. Primates also utilize this ability of vocal communication and gestures in their social environment, be it to alert their own species or to attack another species. Hence this property of communication have become an integrated part of their cognitive and neuro-ecology. Therefore, I hypothesize, that primates utilize vocal communication, call combinations, vocal learning and gestures to communicate and signal others

The challenge that emerges though is the recognition of the systems that animals and human have in common, those that are distinct, and how they interact and interface with one another. In recent times, some scientists have come to the realization that some animals think in ways that at some point were perceived unique to humankind. For instance, some animals have episodic memory or mathematical proficiency that is non-linguistic. Nonetheless, despite these obvious similarities, a cognitive gap still exists between humans and other

Two different experimental apes named Washoe and Koko showed an amazing ability to learn and communicate with ASL. Not only that, they were able to form their own combinations for communicating. This shows a great deal of intelligence.So what does this have to do with human psycholinguistics? psycholinguistics is the study of how we learn and understand language. When we study apes and the way they learn, we may be looking into the dim corridors of our own past. This can give a great deal of insight into the way that we learn and understand all forms of communication. If you understand the base of something, you have a better chance to grasp the entire meaning and concept of it. The Washoe project began in 1967 at the University of Nevada in Reno. There had been experiments with chimpanzees and communication before. These attempts were aimed at teaching the chimps to speak a language. However, they soon realized that the chimps did not have the physical ability to form a spoken

It is argued that the human species are a class of animal. However, the distinctive characteristic that makes us unique, which makes humans different from all other species, is our ability to use complex language. Language is thought of as multi-sensory, containing not only the verbal and writing, but also touch, smell, sound, and body elements. As humans are very social beings, people have the natural instinct to connect and communicate with others, to share our emotions and ideas, and as a result, learning a language becomes an instinct for each individual.

Descartes proclaimed animals as machines, automatic beings that lacked reason. He excluded “these brutes” from the possibility of thoughtful contemplation due to their lack of language. Unfortunately, he never had the pleasure of meeting Koko. Koko, a lowland gorilla who was taught to communicate through