"You never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion… Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough."
–Aldous Huxley, Texts & Pretexts
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that is one reason i prefer the company of animals to that of most humans. i also like the mind of Huxley.
walklightly
Level 8
June 25, 2018
0
In fact, we do.
[io9.gizmodo.com]
Benthoven
Level 8
June 22, 2018
0
not from the behaviour of the pigeons in the experiment, which was more likely various signs of hospitalism than anything like superstition. what do i learn from this? don't box me in.
Animals just do what is needed to survive.They don't live in fear what is next or who is right. That is something we should all be following.
JustinHickey
Level 3
June 21, 2018
3
The quote just reminded me too much of this & it bugged me for the same reason, too Devo...
[en.wikipedia.org]
GregGasiorowski
Level 6
June 21, 2018
0
Nor do Annimals practice politics or organized sports or creat a web page. What do you think it is about humans that need such institutions? Self awareness of our contingent existence?
Gripster31
Level 5
June 21, 2018
2
A developed prefrontal cortex.
It's not much different than pattern recognition or pareidolia.
@AudrinAlexander so you note self awaredly
Animals also don't compose any works of art like an Ode to Joy, accomplish great feats of science like sending a robot to Mars, or create that greatest of all achievements, the varied wonder that is the modern British panel show.
So you know, trade offs.
JeremyTaylor
Level 8
June 21, 2018
3
Exactly
Some of my cats will bring me toys or pipe cleaners when they want treats. Sometimes, I am benevolent (a.k.a. awake) enough to comply. I don't think they're superstitious. They just have me well-trained.
pixiedust
Level 8
June 21, 2018
3
"At your command? Pfft..."
@SheBeSecular They obey all my spoken commands whenever they choose to. We are a well oiled household. 
So the point is that it is better to be stupid than moderately intelligent? So much for the value of progress & growth. You never see animals doing calculus or discovering cures to disease in favor for just randomly being victims of them as well, what of it?
GregGasiorowski
Level 6
June 21, 2018
1
@Donotbelieve
"It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, quite intelligent enough."
You have to crawl before you walk, own it, or go backwards, its a choice.
Actually, there is no way to know what animals are thinking or doing as far as rituals are concerned. We humans mostly project our humanness onto animals for our benefit and amusement. IMHO
jlynn37
Level 8
June 20, 2018
5
@Faithless1 We are cousins after all.
@Faithless1 You are free to say anything you think is plausible to you (as am I), does not make it true or factual however.
jlynn37, that is the best response to the silly "pigeons are superstitious" tale... & exactly my reasoning. who am i to assess the critter?
I agree with you but I heard that elephants perform a ritual when an elephant dies.
Sydland
Level 7
June 20, 2018
4
Read recently that crows do too.
That animals have feelings and many, if not most, mourn their when one of their own die is not a sign of religious belief. Animals learn from their parents, or group if they are animals who live in packs of some kind. They learn survival techniques, they learn who the leader of their groups are, how to behave toward other members. Just as tame animals learn tricks and how to behave. That they have a ritual of sorts when a member of their group die is no more surprising than that certain creatures mate for life. Maybe they are not acting like us, maybe much of our behavior is natural and we are acting like them, we just give it names and try to hard to justify it.
@Faithless1 Would that be a murder of crows?
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