Survey: (People age 40 & up ONLY) Should we determine the importance of an animal based on their intelligence?

For instance, think about the intelligence we perceive in animals. Apparently, monkeys and dolphins demonstrate to have a very sophisticated capacity of memory and intelligence in experiments. We show much more consideration for an animal such as a monkey, than to animals we eat such as chickens. Do you think we should value an animal who shows greater intelligence as more important than to an animal who doesn't?

Survey: (People age 40 %26amp; up ONLY) Should we determine the importance of an animal based on their intelligence?
You have already asked this question 4 times and I have to wonder why you ask the same question repeatedly. I have already answered your question once. What answer is it that you're looking for?


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
Reply:I see your point.





The dog and the horse have certainly earned their great place besides Man throughout the histories. Cats have even been worshipped once upon a time.





Then again, culturally, the dog and the horse and the cat have joined the ranks of the chicken and the cow as food for their masters in several cultures and civilizations including today. Dolphins at one time were called Mahi Mahi and hunted for food till Westerners forced the switch to an actual fish instead of the intelligent beloved mammal.





And in the East, the rat is considered shrewd intelligence whereas in the West its vile refuse feeders. The cow is a revered deity in India.





So its not the intelligence of the creature but the values of the culture that determines the value of the creature.
Reply:When you say animal you are covering a lot of ground.


I couldn't dare to answer your question until you answered mine. Important to WHOM or WHAT? ok your turn.. (people age 40 and older aren't fooled as easy as the kids)
Reply:no, I don't think intelligent should have anything to do with it. we get some of our most valuable cures from "lower life forms". and if a outsider to this planet were looking in, it would look as if the human baby where the lesser species of animals. think about it, in comparison to other animal babies humans look retarded. they can't walk,run, sense danger, have no instincts to help them survive that they can call upon but to cry. They just lay there. can't feed themselves. who would have known as a adults that we would be so different with learning. and as for a animal companion, I could love a stupid animal just as well as a smart one.





also, the "lesser" life forms pollinate flowers so that plants bare food for us. so it is all relevant I think. what is immportant in a animal you you at that time. companionship? food source? cures? etc...
Reply:No, I don't think so. Value is subjective.





If I had a large family to provide for and had a dog and a chicken, I would think I would value the chicken more for the eggs it would provide. The dog does provide love and companionship for the family and I do love dogs, but in the case of providing for a family, the chicken would be more valuable to me.





In my case, I do not have a chicken or a family to provide for. Of course I value my dog. I love her and am responsible for taking care of her. But I do not think it would be my right to judge what is valuable based on intelligence of an animal.
Reply:Great question. No of course not. For several reasons, we assume that our method of determining intelligence is all inclusive and that animals that by our measures do not show intellectual superiority are not. secondly we should not treat animals according to their level of intelligence that's discrimination.


But having said this the reason why we do eat less intelligent animals is because we are trying to be "humane" and therefore salve our conscience. Because we believe that decreased intelligence is decreased awareness and therefore killing a chicken for food is less harmful to the chicken than killing the dolphin for food because unlike the chicken the dolphin can mentally process it.


Taken further this arguement can be used to question why some people believe it is humane to kill and eat plants (who are living things) and not animals (who also are living things but by our assessment are at a higher level of consciousness than plants). That was my botany instructors soap box.


I think that when it comes right down to it, despite all our "intelligence" we are still all living things and surprisingly behave alike. We all follow the food chain. We are all self serving and will snuff out the life of other living things to continue ours. That is what all living things have to do to keep from becoming extinct.


By the way, I am 27 yrs old but i found this question too tempting to resist :)
Reply:No, I don't think intelligence is the key. Certain animals were put on the earth as food for us. Others are used as pets or for entertainment. Intelligence would possibly be concerned with the latter two.