Here Today... Gone To Hell!

This months question is a multi-question. The winner receives a brand-spanking bootleg copy of ?Chinese Democracy? and its two follow-ups.?

Assuming that people have souls, do other animals have souls as well? Can animals love and hate? Can animals feel anger, happiness, etc?

Note: There are no right answer, and therfore no winners.

I think animals can love or hate, feel anger and happines, at least this works for dogs.

My dog just can't stand one dog, and when it took a little trip on her own and was missing for a good hour, I've never seen her so happy when she found me again.

And my other dog has tricked me that it was a sleep (I wanted to take it out jogging too early and it was winter) so it had her eyes shut but her tail was swinging, like haha, tricked ya!

of course animals have these feelings,  take a moment and observe them for a moment.    anyone who had a pet will tell you im right

This may be only an example of conditioning.

For instance, an animal may act friendly to its master because it is then rewarded, positively reinforcing the behavior.   

Also, in order for a dog to get angry it would have to feel that an injustice occurred. Do animals really have a conception of justice, injustice, right and wrong?? ?

Also, your dog may have just been tired.

want to expand the smallprint. Maybe a reward for best written answer

Animals do have souls.

I find animals fascinating to watch.? At times you can see exactly what they're thinking - you can see how their minds work.? Watching kittens explore a room is a good example: they'll look shocked when they see something new, excited when another kitten arrives, adventurous when they're trying to climb up the curtains, etc...? It's clear that cats show affection towards some cats and distain towards others.? I have no doubt that dogs experience love, pride, etc...? I dunno about hate, but maybe.


Not injustice as such, but there are other ways of getting angry.? Guard dogs bark loudly when a stranger enters their master's property, which is a way of expressing anger.? You'll probably say they've been trained (ie conditioned) to act like that but they are expressing anger and I think they know it.


Wild animals are maybe a bit harder to argue about because there are so many different species, but I think a large amount of them do feel emotions.? Try stealing a salmon from a bear and see if it gets angry at you.? Alternatively, callously murder a baby deer and see if its mother gets sad.? If you happen to see a fox in the street I guarantee it will get scared and run away.  I think the answer's pretty obvious - I think emotions are instinctive.

Of course they do. Two days ago, my uncle's goofy girlfriend was at my house, she had on this weird outfit . When my dog first spotted her, she started barking at her and I realized I wasn't the only one that wanted this weirdo out of the house. :hihi:

I want a cookie god danmit  :rant:   :hihi:

Anyway i think dogs do have souls, but if they go to heaven or certain stuff I really dont know, perhaps we have to ask some dog god so we can learn more. But i think they can comprenhend love, care and good things or else they shouldn't act like nutcase when seeing something wrong.

Of course animals have feelings. They have lots of feelings.

BTW, it's not August yet.

yupp... they have..

my dog at home often shows that she is scared... like she dosnt like jumping down from the couch (well, she dont mind now, but as a smaller dog she dreadded it and kinda did a backward crawl and backfeet to the ground and then she was down)
and when she is scared, she shakes.

also, if sje has food on her plate (she knows wether or not she has) and we sit in the sofa in the living room and reach our hand out toward the kitchen and do grabbing gestures she growls and runs to save the food... dont know wich emotion that is.. but it is funny



also, jealosy! if i pet my cat she ALWAYS come for some lovin' and stares at me with these huge loveable eyes! hehe...

she's the best!

and happines: when we have a stranger in the house she gets all wild and running around and wants to sit on his/her lap and NEED petting! funny, cuz she is a large dog now  :hihi:

sorrow, the usual tail between the legs and big glassy eyes and laying low.


dont know this emotion's name but it is a cool one:
when i lay on the ground and cry for help she always comes to me and "helps" on her own way... and when i were smaller and used to fight with my brother and he won (or i won but since he is 5 years older than me that rarely happend) i would call for the dog and she barked at my brother! aweseom! no lassie dog, but still!

While these are all nice...there is nothing that says these stories of "emotion" are anything but conditioning.

Also, when a dog gets "angry" when say, a stranger enters the threshold, it's all about instinct.

Instinct, conditioning, but emotion?

You could say that people are conditioned too. But does that mean we lack emotion?  All creatures are conditioned beings with emotions. It's both.

but angry is still an emotion. what you ask now is like asking if a tree falls and noone hears it, does it make sound?

Based on this argument, I could just as easily question whether we humans have emotion.

Sorry, but what you're saying to me is basically that we humans are above animals.

And to me, we're not. We're equal.

Yes.? RRRRRRREEEEEEEEAAAACCCCCCCCRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!


... :-\


... :-X


...My cat gets jealous of my guitar. :)

I'm an animal lover and am all for treating them humanely.  But humans and animals are NOT equal.

Suppose, totally hypothetical of course, a person and an animal were hanging off the side of the cliff and you could only save one.  By your belief, it would be completely reasonable to save the animal instead of the human....

Humans are animals.  But yes, we're not equal.

I used to have a pet Cockatiel and he definately had emotions, he was a moody little bastard, one morning you'd wake up n he'd run about his cage signin 4 you n sayin hello, then next day he'd sit there quiet and maybe go get some food, there was definate emotion in him.

when he was happy he'd run round the bottom of his cage in circles shoutin, was hilarious.

he'd show happiness when you gave him toast and when he was flying about, he'd show himself to be scared if someone new was trying to hold him and even pride if he managed a big long fly round the room without crashing lol

also he'd show how shocked he was if he nibbled on the bars of his cage and it twanged back at him, he just opened his beak looking shocked, cracked me up everytime!

God I miss that little fella lol   :beer:

Perhaps we can never know cause we can't comunicate with them, I mean can we ask a dog, a cat, a fish how does it feels?, I mean are you hungry thirsty and stuff? we just react as what we see our pet nothing more, we are as domestic as they are.

yes one can commuicate with annimals. they do "talk"

if i ask my dog she wants food she replies... maybe not by Yes or any human word, but she barks and/or shows excitements. they DO know what we are saying.

we also know when they are in pain.. they moan and such. just like humans.

I know what you are saying but dont you think that animals wont ever comment about what you think about killing another animal? you think thats good or it's just survival?
Non-standard stuff you know the reaction everyone does, but the deep things can we know for sure? the diference between kill an animal for survival or kill for pleasure? i think animals are instints and that's it