Aristotle believed that mastering animals was necessary to distinguish the good from the badand thus decide who could belong to the political community; kant was convinced that the other species They have no morals or ability to reason; parachute discardsthey were machines unable to suffer. Although they are ideas that endure among a large part of humans, the evidence begins to refute them with unprecedented power.
Ethology – the study of animal behavior and communication – focuses more and more in their language. Today we know that dolphins call each other by name, that dogs they read emotions on our faces, that marmosets talk in turns, and that whales, octopuses and bees they have their own grammar.
Canine language: Learn the language of dogs
Not only surprising; It is also important to understand it to start thinking differently. Biology, in fact, you already define the intelligence as the faculty of face the challenges of each species. Thus, from the point of view of ants, we are bad for teamwork, and from that of dogs, terribly clumsy to guide us by smell, astutely warned the researcher Eva Meijer in her book Talking animals (private conversations between living beings).
The idea that humans are the center of existence can carry out the oppression and violence against animals. The Dutch woman proposes an opposite approach: learning more about other ways of behaving and communicating can lead us to fairer and more responsive interactions. Hope is also disruptive: “By better explaining what we say, in ways understandable to animals, we can form new shared worlds.”
FM J.L.
You may also like
