From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!convex!constellation!wildcat.ecn.uoknor.edu!rwmurphr Tue Nov 24 10:51:47 EST 1992
Article 7617 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: rwmurphr@wildcat.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert W Murphree)
Subject: Re: Consciousness in animals
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Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 04:44:25 GMT
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I would place consciousness in Chimps but not in rhesus monkeys.  
When shown themselves in a mirror, chimps will notice they are marked
with dye, rhesus do not.  I also think consciousness has something  
to do with sociality , don't ask me why.  chimps are noticibly
more social than rhesus, though maybe its hard to say how objectively.

To give any insect consciousness on the bases of planning seems to
me to be beside the point.  I think "choice" would be a better 
choice of words than consciousness.  If you ask if bees make
decisions, I guess you could say yes.  You could probably make
a case that prokaryotes do to.  Why do you think a bee is 
conscious, other than the fact that articles have been written
on the question of animal minds using bees as an example?
                                                              
I think you should be careful to distinguish between saying an
animal has a "mind" or "perception" instead of consciousness.
 I may be able to show that an organism can perceive and respond 
to some stimulus, does this mean that the organism is conscious?
Hardly, I may alter my body temperature and pulse in sleep but
that does not mean I am conscious even though it is in response
to temperature or sound stimulus.

I think you are on much better ground to discuss the sensory
apparatus of an animal, and the kinds of problems it solves
than to attribute "consciousness"  to it.  Or maybe you are
trying to refer to the ability to "feel" pain?  That would
put it somewhere in the verterates, between fish and mice.




