Q&A: Ethology and the "Soul" in Animals
Ethology and the "Soul" in Animals
Question
Hello Rabbi,
A great deal has been said on the site about the soul/mind (consciousness, free will, morality, etc.) in light of brain science, and about the methodological problems involved in drawing philosophical conclusions from observations.
I think the biggest challenge to the concept of the human "soul" actually comes from a different direction—ethology (the study of animals). My questions are:
1. Does the Rabbi think that, methodologically, it is possible to design an experiment that would prove (or at least indicate with very high probability) that animals have morality?
2. An experiment that would indicate consciousness / free will similar to ours in animals?
If such an experiment is possible and the answers turn out to be positive, would that constitute an impossible contradiction to religion? (Strong evidence that biological matter + evolution can lead to a "soul")
References:
Chimpanzee social intelligence: selfishness, altruism, and the mother-infant bond
(I think that the part on deception is quite amazing)
Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Animal Minds, 469-474
Animal Sentience: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Animal Feeling
Answer
Hello,
It is hard for me to imagine such an experiment. Even with human beings, we infer this from their similarity to us (the problem of other minds/selves).
But even if you were somehow to find that they have a mental dimension, that is not proof that evolution created it. One could argue that they too have a spiritual soul (and that is indeed the accepted view in Kabbalah).
Discussion on Answer
I don't have a source. The claim is that, as with human beings, the Holy One, blessed be He, places a soul into a body that was formed, or arranged a mechanism that attaches souls to bodies.
It seems that the studies also focus on inferring from similarity to us (in a way that isn't all that convincing in my opinion), except for the part about "deception" in chimpanzees (the first reference), which approaches the problem in an interestingly different way. But it's clear to me that this is probably a discussion built more on worldviews than on facts (for the reasons you mentioned).
Regarding the second part—could you please point me to a source I can study more deeply?
If I understand correctly, the claim is that God sometimes chooses to grant a soul to "dust and ashes" (animals without a soul whose origin is purely evolutionary)? Or is it that every animal as such has some soul-component that God gave it? (at the stage of abiogenesis)