Winter apple
Friday, 17 November 2006, 17:42Filed as: miscellany | 0 pawprints »
News: Hahaha!
Friday, 17 November 2006, 10:57Mother, father, have I ever got a bone to pick with the two of you!
What is bravery and can animals do it?
Uh, well, if bravery is "feeling the fear and doing it anyway", of course we bloody can. I can't believe there's still a debate about whether a non-human animal can show altruism, or make a decision against its immediate instincts1. So, were there supposed to be any other (special/'human') dimensions to bravery?
(Incidentally, getting a medal for being parachuted behind enemy lines against your will isn't the best example of courage.)
1 Piper was frightened and hiding under the kitchen cabinet on Firework Night. But I called him out and he obeyed, quite obviously against what he considered his better judgment.
To take another example, Piper's immediate instinct when someone comes home is to run into the kitchen, there to beg for food. But he comes to me in the opposite direction if I call him. This is subtle thought (Mutt rewards me eventually if I act obedient) overriding simple thought (kitchen is where my food is).
And he's a cat, so you can't use the "intelligent domesticated animals are different" excuse.
Filed as: animals, news | 0 pawprints »