Speaking of Darwin, he was an acute observer of animals and a believer in
animal mentality.
In his 1976 book The Question of Animal Awareness, Donald Griffin suggested
that animals could have conscious minds like those of humans and be capable
of thinking and awareness. The idea had been proposed by other scientists,
including Charles Darwin who wrote a book on the issue.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) used mentalistic terms freely when describing,
for example, pleasure and disappointment in dogs; the cunning of a cobra;
and sympathy in crows. Darwin's careful anthropomorphism, when combined with
meticulous description, provided a scientific basis for obvious resemblances
between the behavior and psychology of humans and other animals.
Darwin's own words:
Actions of all kinds, if regularly accompanying any state of the mind, are
at once recognized as expressive. These may consist of movements of any part
of the body, as the wagging of a dog's tail, the shrugging of a man's
shoulders, the erection of the hair, the exudation of perspiration, the
state of the capillary circulation, laboured breathing, and the use of the
vocal or other sound producing instruments. Even insects express anger,
terror, jealousy, and love by their stridulation.
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