Do animals have consciousness? Can animals love?

OregonGuy

OregonGuy

Senior Member
There seems to be general consensus they have consciousness,

Animal consciousness - Wikipedia

This article says its not known whether they can love:

can animals love - Bing

But this article says they can IF “love” is defined as a bond or attachment”.

can animals love humans - Search

This begs the question “what is love?”/

Love is a set of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, and commitment12. It involves care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust1. Love can vary in intensity and can change over time1. Being "in love" includes all of the above but also involves feelings of sexual arousal and attraction3. Cross-cultural research provides evidence that the components of love are universal

Except for the sexual aspect (YUCK) I say my kitty and I are in love.
 

Of course they do, they understand hand sign language, most of our simple commands / calls.
Sure, they cry on your shoulder, but we can't hear them, they can't tell us verbally. A horse can
Understand knee pressure, ground ties with just reins on the earth, gentle words. Some
pets will try to communicate, if ya listen / watch them for it.
 
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I had three cats, Mike, Kitty, and Fuzzybuddy. I chose those names because they didn't sound alike. When the cats were sleeping, I could call each cat's name and it would respond- and the other cats didn't. That means the cat recognized its name. In order to do that the cat had to know "I am Mike", Mike means ME.etc. To me, that indicates self-awareness.
 
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OregonGuy said:
There seems to be general consensus they have consciousness,

Animal consciousness - Wikipedia

This article says its not known whether they can love:

can animals love - Bing

But this article says they can IF “love” is defined as a bond or attachment”.

can animals love humans - Search

This begs the question “what is love?”/

Love is a set of emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, and commitment12. It involves care, closeness, protectiveness, attraction, affection, and trust1. Love can vary in intensity and can change over time1. Being "in love" includes all of the above but also involves feelings of sexual arousal and attraction3. Cross-cultural research provides evidence that the components of love are universal

Except for the sexual aspect (YUCK) I say my kitty and I are in love.
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Do you have a pet?

If so, does it respond to you when you enter the room or speak to it, or when it sees you crying, or limping, or when you've fallen down and you can't get up?

Or does it just lay in a pool of its feces and urine all day, holding its mouth open until you put food in it? :sick::eek:😄
 
Am a dog person.
Not a 'sappy' one, but a working dog one.

Dogs seem genetically predisposed to present with certain "personality" styles. "Temperament" if you will.

Retrievers and hunting dogs seem to have more innate "sixth senses".
But it is likely in their noses.

Dogs can smell stress hormones from other creatures, seeping out of their skin, and humans throw off such. Saliva and tears also have hormones in them. Dogs can smell stress in PTSD patients.
Fascinating studies. Dogs can smell when a person's body is stressed; like low or high blood sugars; seizure about to happen, etc.
 
PeppermintPatty said:
Of course they have a conscience and CAN and DO love. Without a doubt.
Click to expand...
Proof of a conscience is when the dog looks guilty after you yell "How'd this garbage get all over the floor?" or "Did you chew up the freaking couch?!"

None of my cats ever did that. Never a guilty expression, but they'll run and hide. Could be because I yelled, could be because they know why I yelled, and they're guilty.

Pixel is my oldest cat. He's about 8 yrs old. He has always looked at me with a baffled expression. Very much a deer-in-the-headlights or WTF? expression. It's like he doesn't trust me, or at the very least, he's skeptical.

To Pixel, I've always been, and maybe always will be, an unpredictable freaky giant, with large, petting and can-opening things at the ends of its 2 ffrrighteningly long front legs. >*chills*<
 
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