humans don't have freedom. we are slaves in much bigger prisons.

I'd say not. They don't have the freedom to choose whether to undermine their instincts or not the way we do, they're slaves to them. They can't hypothesise on a range of possibilities and then have the freedom to choose which actions will bring the best outcomes for them.

Ask a zoologist how many animals are capable of having "wants.". I'm guessing not many.

Animals in the wild are pretty much trying to stay alive 24-7. Not really conducive to having desires. And not freer: they obtain food, they fight, they escape predation... There aren't a lot of choices in the wild.

yes for sure but humans put terrible limits on them by killing them for what they do or killing them because they live somewhere you want to live or for what they have. even a lot of plants aren't free as we manipulate just about everything we eat and kill any plant that doesn't fit in. freedom is doing what you want when you want how you want however you want. I mean what life forms when you think about it can always do just that?

My kitten decided the garage was a cool place to explore. Luckily the garage door was closed and she didn't any further. Now her freedom has been curtailed, I'm very vigilant when going in and out of the garage to keep her away. She has the freedom of the house except for several rooms shut off to her. So she isn't really free. She doesn't have to work to earn her keep, except for amusing me, but that is play for her.

When I was a child my grandfather told me that when Robinson Caruso was alone on his island he could fire his weapon in any direction he wanted to, he had total freedom. When Friday showed up RC's freedoms were curtailed. He could not longer fire his weapon in Friday's direction. Therefore our freedoms end where the rights and freedoms of another human's begin.

My first answer to your question is no, Freedom is not simply being able to do what you want. It depends on what you want to do. Your freedom cannot infringe on my freedom. And Miss Zelda, she's free to do whatever she wants to do as long as it is within the parameters of what I allow her to do.

yes but they're always hungry

Humans live in an artificial environment of their own creation ,sort of like a human zoo. This is why they are not free and many suffer from depression .Depression is a disease of civilization .

Humans have morals and principals and laws to keep a boundary in place. I can't see where it can be compared. Animals do as they please in the wild.

Probably not the ones used for food... or the ones we keep on leashes... or the ones we keep in cages... or the ones we restrict to tiny slivers of their original habitat... or ones we use for jobs.

I think in some ways animals are more free in the wild. But their problems are more life/death. Our problems are more complex. To do or not to do? To be or not to be?

The have it or don't have it?? Etc. Etc.

To have great power as humans have requires much responsibility.

Animals use to be freer. We have infringed on their habitats and destroyed these animals places to live. Due to this process of continually taking up more of the planet, destroying it, and not replacing what we destor soon their will be no planet for any life to live on. Kind of =what some people refer to end of days. Scientists say the glaciers are melting at 7% a year. It was raining in Anartica the other day. We had all that land burned in CA and many areas damaged over 4 huge hurricances. Scientiats showed a picture of plastic on the ocean. It was amazing how much plastic for miles. The scientests said that the oceans will be completely covered by the year 2050 if we do not stop this destruction. It all makes me ill.

Freedom is a human construct so the question isn't applicable..

With many notable exceptions, animals are more free than people. Not animals in tanks, cages, experiments and such, but wild animals, and many domesticated animals.

Ask the animals in your local zoo.

We all have one cage or another.

There are observable rules of behavior in wolf packs, so, no. Behavior can be circumscribed by physical reality but also by societal structure. Animals without a society, cougars, could qualify I suppose.

I'm sure that some individual animals, from their point of view within their own social structure and "intellectual" capacity, won't consider their lives free.

E.g. male lions join the herd but need to contest for breeding rights.

I think social "animals" (Aren't we social animals?) never simply "are able to do what they want". There's always a set of "way to live", limited to each animal's "intellect" (Is there a better word here? E.g. an ant's intellect is limited to ant-living while ours is space travel. I digress.) ... There's always a set of "way to live" to keep the group, well, social.

I don't see any of us - human or animal, as being truly free. There are social confines and expectations that most humans adhere to. Along with financial, family, work, perceived, and emotional obligations. And all our little creature comforts that most do not want to be without.

While animals have territories to remain in and defend, mates to fight for and seduce, food to search out, enemies to vanquish, migratory routes to follow, young to raise, all the while working at not getting eaten or killed by other bigger/stronger/faster/feistier creatures than they are !

The difference between humans and animals is that we can make choices, while animals act by instinct.

If that’s the case, yes. I don’t believe in true freedom, we are all slaves to a great many things.

Once lived in the woods, had a ' stand off ' with a badger, I had to let it pass The nocturnal beauty owned them woods, I was the trespasser Animals are more forthright in their convictions, the badger knew where it was going and nothing was getting in its way

Did anyone see the series about the animals taking over the humans, was on Netflix, it was quite good?I feel sorry how we have killed, caged, and eat them just for humans choice.
so sad so much nature is so messed up all because of us humans