![]() ![]() At other times the interpretations seem far-fetched. The sight of a female gorilla carrying and fondling its dead baby seems so similar to expressions of human grief and maternal love that it is easy to accept this explanation. Sometimes (from our human viewpoint) their interpretations seem compelling. The authors' position comes from their interpretations of examples of animal behavior. They suggest that animals feel fear, hope, love, friendship, grief, sadness, joy, rage, compassion, altruism, shame, a sense of justice and even appreciation of beauty. ![]() They claim that animals do feel emotions, and some very complex emotions at that. Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy's "When Elephants Weep" tries to bring this debate up to date. Darwin's book also challenges the position of some modern "behaviorists" who claim that animals lack even basic conscious processes, let alone feelings or self-awareness. He disputed the earlier "mechanical theories" of philosophers such as Rene Descartes, which viewed animals as fur-covered, soulless machines, incapable of feeling (and certainly not destined for Heaven). In 1873 Charles Darwin wrote "The Expression of Emotions in Animals and Man." This book was remarkable because it concluded that animals have emotions similar to those we humans have. WHEN ELEPHANTS WEEP The Emotional Lives of Animals By Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy Delacorte. ![]()
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