[Is an animal a person? And are scientists always rational animals?].
An accumulation of scientific observations now challenges the idea that there is a huge difference between human beings and other animal species. There is no longer any need to assume that man possesses something special. Yet many scientists refuse to admit that this is so. As a result, they frequently express opinions that are both contrary to reality and flawed in their thinking. It is interesting to note that this shortage of logic is not due to a lack of knowledge (as would be a layperson's opinion), but sometimes due to a quest for precision. Some authors describe what appears to be well-controlled experiments but do not even envisage the most important skew. For example, the absence of social context for an animal whose social intelligence is being studied or ignoring the consequences of the taming or training process. The latter evidently encourages the animal to give the answer it thinks the experimenter wants, instead of actually trying to understand. In the end, it turns out that much incapacity attributed to animals is in fact incapacity on the part of the experimenter.
Fondation Ipsen, Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex, France. yves.christen@ipsen.com
Yves
Y
Christen
D000818:Animals; D032882:Comprehension; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011908:Rationalization; D012586:Science / Q000592:standards*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity; D013850:Thinking