I was recently reading an article from National Geographic about the emotions and behaviors of animals, which says that many animals, like elephants, dolphins, and dogs have empathy just like humans do. A report said that there once was an old woman who cannot see well and got lost and found out the next day an elephant guarding her. This remains me thinking of a study of animal behavior saying that elephants are emotional animals that have a strong sense of empathy. Humans, in their eyes, are just like little babies that can arouse their willingness of protection. Many animals, just like human beings, are born with this emotion as I mentioned in Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (1754), pg 64 that “pity is a natural sentiment, which, by moderating in each individual the activity of the love of oneself, contributes to the mutual preservation of the entire species. Pity is what carries us without reflection to the aid of those we see suffering”. This shows us that we all share a lot of similarities in the state of nature and those human beings who are considered as barbarians are actually just more well-protected by nature than us.
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I found this topic very fascinating and I strongly agree with the statements about animals pitying others (even other animals). I used to watch a lot of videos about humans struggling in life and animals protecting them because the humans were visually in harm. For example, there are videos where a random dog would come up and guide an old lady across the street and there are videos were a dog jumps in to save a lady being assaulted by her husband. These stories really being out the true nature of animals, how we are essentially coded to help and assist one another when in dire need.
This was a pretty cool discussion Jiaqi. You told a heart warming story. And I agree with what you said that animals have empathy. I feel like I have always seen that with dogs. I had a bunch of dogs growing up. I always thought that they showed a lot of care and love towards my family. Every time I would come home, my dog would run to the door. And if I would take my dog for a walk, he would not run away from me. I have also heard stories that someone’s dog ran away from home and found their way back home. And if someone would attack you, some dogs would attack the attacker. Although my dogs would never do that because they were lazy. And I feel like ants are a good representation of caring about all. Ants work together to make their hills. They all work together without any form of communication and relationship with each other. I think they do this because they know that they can a lot of progress if they all work together.