You Gotta Love Philosophers
October 22, 2008 at 8:17 pm 1 comment
I had to look twice to make sure that this didn’t come from the Onion. Nope, it didn’t. So, from this month’s issue of Philosophy Now we have:
Findings reported at the first Canine Science Forum in Budapest suggest that selective breeding over the 10,000 years that humans have kept dogs has created dogs able to tell right from wrong, according to New Scientist. Studies presented by scientists demonstrate that the rarity of rough-and-tumble dog-play escalating into full-blown fighting shows that dogs abide by certain rules and expect other dogs to do the same. Other experiments found a negative reaction if one dog was given treat and another denied it. Dog owners worldwide failed to express any shock at these findings.
Entry filed under: dogs. Tags: philosophy.
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LabRat | October 22, 2008 at 9:10 pm
My sequence of reactions when I read the New Scientist article went about like this:
1. Laugh at headline. Oh, journalists attempting to report science, will your antics never end.
2. Think about the actual material. Question the concept of “right and wrong” and its biological and cultural roots. Question how many other animals work and play with complex “rules”.
3. Wipe smoke residue out of ears, seek snack food.