> Animals work in cooperation in experiments all the time. Recent studies
> have shown animals spend much more time cooperating than competing.
> Hardly shocking news. It there was no evolutionary continuity in
> cooperative behaviour that would be shocking news.
Empathy is not required for animals to engage in cooperative behavior.
If there is food shared, all I need to know I that if I give some food, I'll get some food. Understanding the feelings of another entity is not necessary.
> I've been here long enough to know nothing anyone could possibly write
> here will change Miles mind.
I'm disappointed that I give the impression of being dogmatic. The only thing I'm adamant about is a culture of evidence: claims that are clearly contradicted by repeated evidence should be ridiculed mercilessly. Other than that, I'm perfectly happy to change anything I believe in. One of the reasons I stick around LBO is that it encourages me to consider perspectives I don't often hear in my little academic enclave.
> When Miles claims "I've never come across a nonhuman animal that
> demonstrates this ability (the ability to understand what another entity
> is thinking and feeling)" he is absolutely correct. He has never
> knowingly observed this behaviour. Not because animals don't do it, but
> because Miles doesn't see it. I'm sure Miles can explain how people most
> often see and experience what they expect to see and experience.
> It wasn't until I began training therapy animals that I changed my mind
> about animal behaviours.
Let's be clear here: Empathy is not a behavior. Empathy is a psychological state of understanding the psychological experience of another entity. The problem here with all the examples you provide is that you're not directly observing "empathy"; you're observing behaviors that you then freely interpret as being motivated by the psychological state of empathy. I have a hard time believing this is something more than anthropomorphization, but I'm quite willing to change my view on this, given some compelling data.
Miles