Quiz 13

Stephan Budiansky most likely thinks that Peterson is a nut, despite the fact that he makes a very interesting case. If Midgley were to respond, I think she might start by explaining the parcimony principle. This principle encourages reaserchers to adopt the simpilest solution. This encourages reasearchers to come to the conclusion that there is nothing "in depth" to animal. Midgley does not like this theory. For example, in the case of the gorrilla saving the boy, researchers are the ones who "demistified" the reason the gorilla saved him. They said that she was trained to carry a doll to them and she was acting in accordance to her training in order to get a reward. This is a example of people putting up a barrier between humans and animals. Some people don't want to live in a world where animals and humans intermingle, and where animals have emotions. It is very easy to say that animals are beneath us when they cannot speak for themselves the way we can. However, many animals have developed a language of their that can transfer to other species. For example, a racehorse can get lonley and tempermental. In order to keep the horse happy and calm, many times they put another animal such as a goat or cat in to live with it. Another example is dogs that travel in a pack, have a clear hiearchy of domninancy. There is communication through body language, movement, and vocal sounds. Just because an animal can't speak english doesnt mean that it cannot feel or express its feelings. Perhaps we as humans are the ones who missed out on this language barrier. Animals seem to able to coexhist and communicate in ways that we may not even understand. Perhaps humans are true dumb ones after all.