Re:Dogs are good models for human psychiatric disorders, stu...
by PaulDavisThe1st on Saturday March 19, 2022 @04:48PM
(#30737465)
There are two possible things going on:
1. actual anthropomorphizing, that is ascribing distinctly human motivation to a non-human actor
2. in Dennett's words, "taking the intentional stance", that is choosing to describe and understand an active entity in the world as if it had intentions.
We do (2) with other people all the time, without much to really back it up. I don't consider such a bad thing to do it with dogs (or other animals).
1. actual anthropomorphizing, that is ascribing distinctly human motivation to a non-human actor
2. in Dennett's words, "taking the intentional stance", that is choosing to describe and understand an active entity in the world as if it had intentions.
We do (2) with other people all the time, without much to really back it up. I don't consider such a bad thing to do it with dogs (or other animals).