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I have always had dogs that were literally willing to lay down their life for me. Is that love or just an evolved pack instinct based on the fact that a pack will survive better than an animal alone? I think what what humans call love is really just an evolved instinct that improved our odds of survival. Yes, dogs and cats feel love.
"Love" is a little squirt of dopamine into the right place in our brain at the right time. This is true in people and in animals. Humans interpret that as something we call "love". Who knows how animals interpret it but I doubt it is the same. With highly social animals, which includes wolves and ants, I imagine it is pleasurable and that promotes the socialization.
We humans romanticize the biology behind this. I really doubt that humans 10,000 years ago when we were hunter/gatherers had a notion of love. Love is a modern thing we have dreamed up.
Well howdy, Mr. Reductionist. You are 100% wrong but hey, go you, have a great life with your chemicals for company.
"Love" is a little squirt of dopamine into the right place in our brain at the right time. This is true in people and in animals. Humans interpret that as something we call "love". Who knows how animals interpret it but I doubt it is the same. With highly social animals, which includes wolves and ants, I imagine it is pleasurable and that promotes the socialization.
We humans romanticize the biology behind this. I really doubt that humans 10,000 years ago when we were hunter/gatherers had a notion of love. Love is a modern thing we have dreamed up.
So basically, you are saying that dogs and cats don't feel love, but we don't really feel it either, because it's a total fake.
Isn't that nice?
I might agree with you that how humans express romantic love has evolved over the centuries - most people expect it to be an inducement to marry, rather than the result of marriage, but if you are saying that love of a parent, a child, a brother or sister, friend or partner did not exist 10,000 years ago, I think you are utterly mad. Human beings at that time had all the basic mental and emotional equipment we have - the only thing that has really changed is the technology.
"Love" is a little squirt of dopamine into the right place in our brain at the right time. This is true in people and in animals. Humans interpret that as something we call "love". Who knows how animals interpret it but I doubt it is the same. With highly social animals, which includes wolves and ants, I imagine it is pleasurable and that promotes the socialization.
We humans romanticize the biology behind this. I really doubt that humans 10,000 years ago when we were hunter/gatherers had a notion of love. Love is a modern thing we have dreamed up.
I would argue that, while love is a creation of chemical reactions, all of our emotions are. It is what drives us, what makes us unique as individuals...and it is not confined to humans, just as you stated. But it doesn't mean that chemical reactions we experience are insignificant, or that we can be defined solely as chemical processes. If so, then we could easily dismiss everything in our lives, including any purpose(s) we may have as insignificant, and we can look at all of life as chemical reactions...a rather cold and bitter analysis.
It's one thing to understand what drives humans and all other animals biologically by studying chemical reactions, and it has it's place; however, it's quite another to recognize the importance of what makes us individuals, humans and animals alike, and how we experience life itself.
I pray to never become the analytical scientist who sees only the physical process, and completely dismisses all other aspects of what makes a sentient being who they are.
My dog 100% adores me. Not only that, but prefers me over all the other family members even though they are the ones that give him treats all the time (I typically don't). In fact, the family now basically calls him my dog (opposed to the family dog) since he only has eyes for me.
As for the cats, two of our cats definitely preferred my husband over me, and the other two preferred me. All four cats ignored the kids from day one during their lifetimes.
So basically, you are saying that dogs and cats don't feel love, but we don't really feel it either, because it's a total fake.
No, we absolutely feel it. You missed my point, which is that it is subjective. What we feel is a product of our socialization and other factors. As I said, I doubt we "felt" love 10,000 years ago because we didn't have the same socialization. Life was short and brutish and a struggle; who had the luxury to dream about "love"? And same with animals - who knows how they interpret a biochemical event in their brain, but whatever it is, it will be a product of their animal background, not of their human owner's background.
Do wild animals that live in packs feel love for their pack mates?
Do the mothers feel love for their children, and then feel extreme sadness when one of the young die? What is the motivated factors that makes mother mammals raise their young for a bit?
I once had a 3 lb tabby cat who would go into my bedroom and cry for me. I vowed never to leave an animal behind ever again... If she could feel loss, then yes, they can feel love.
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