RDFRS US:
The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and suffering.
The Magic of Reality
for the iPad
Sean Faircloth:
Attack of the Theocrats!
J. Anderson Thomson Jr. MD:
why we believe in god(s)
RSS Feeds
"But Terrace concluded that that the animal was merely imitating his trainers or using the phrases to get what he wanted, rather than actually constructing sentences as a human child would."
Not to put too fine a point on it, but how is 'using phrases to get what he wants' any different from what everyone does?
And where exactly does this leave those human children who for various reasons never develop the mental capacity to construct their own sentences?
"the emergence of more aggressive “chimp-like” behaviour, attacking anyone he sees as being weak"
And again, how is this any different from a huge amount of human (especially child and teenager) behaviour?
Permalink Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:15:02 UTC | #858597