[lbo-talk] Mirror neurons

[Miles Jackson]

Carrol Cox wrote:
> 
> Miles Jackson wrote:
>>
>> Yeah, same experience living about 35 human-years with cats.  One day
>> in my kitchen I dropped a large pickle jar on my big toe.  I howled in
>> agony.  The cat looked up from her food bowl because of the noise and
>> then nonchalantly went back to her food.
> 
> I have no opinion on "empathy" -- as Jerry says it is not precisely
> defined enough to argue over. But on "theory of mind," if Miles also
> denies that to all animals, this  is almost the first time I've
> disagreed with Miles on anything. It is also the first time he has
> expressed a strong opinion based on personal experience rather than on
> extant research in the field.
> 
> Carrol

The question of "empathy" and "theory of mind" are distinct.  I'm just 
talking about empathy; Jerry and John introduced the theory of mind 
stuff into the discussion.  I have to disagree with you and Jerry 
about the definition of empathy; psychologists have studied it for 
decades.  It's the metacognitive ability to understand the thoughts 
and feelings of another entity.  There's plenty of research about 
personality differences related to empathy and techniques for 
increasing empathy.

However, every reliable and valid measure of empathy relies on 
language and the assumption that a person can reflect upon and report 
their psychological states.  This is the methodological problem I have 
with any attempts to demonstrate empathy in entities that cannot talk. 
  If my cat brings me a dead bird, should I call that empathy?  How 
could I tell whether or not my interpretation is correct?

I have to say this whole question "Does species X have human 
characteristic Y?" isn't very interesting to me; it really makes no 
practical difference whether or not my cat has empathy--I'll feed her 
and pet her in any case.  As I mentioned earlier, given compelling 
data, I'd be happy to say that some particular species has the 
capacity for the human experience of empathy.  I have nothing invested 
in the belief that empathy is exclusive to humans.

Miles