News of the Week Part 1: Dr. Zaius what is your opinion?
From the New York Times Science Section- It seems that researchers at Yale’s Psychological Studies department have written a paper discussing the ability of capuchin monkeys to rationalize their decisions. In their study they found that the monkeys rationalized choices in a way similar to 4 year-olds. Of course when the Yale researchers had to choose between stating that “monkeys and children have ‘richer motivational complexity’ than we realize” or that the scientific “ways of dealing with cognitive dissonance are ‘mechanistically simpler than previously thought” they of course choose the later. It appears that the scientists refused to accept that monkeys are more complex and “human-like” then they currently think and instead just lowered the value of rationalizing. Obviously it cannot be that important if monkeys, underdeveloped children, and amnesiacs can do it. No matter what they claim, this does question how separate and unique humans are from other animals. If rationalizing and cognitive dissonance isn’t what makes humans “unique” and “superior” to other animals what does?
Eco-Anarchist Analysis to Contemporary Issues 