Is it reasonable to think that animals have self awareness?

It is surely not the only test. But in cases where you cannot ask the animal what he or she is thinking about, it's a reasonable measure.

Agreed.

 

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Is it really? As has been stated, many animals don't really have very good eyesight and their awareness is mostly keyed to a sense of smell. If you asked most people what one sense they would most hate to lose, I'm sure it would be eyesight. The same can't be said about most animals. Birds who do depend on eyesight seem to enjoy mirrors.

 

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Agreed. Like I said, it's not the only test for self-awareness that works, and it's not useful for animals with poor vision.

 

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To care for a helpless suckling requires empathy. All of the pre-humans had that going for them.

Also Neanderthals painted bison and buried their dead, with apparent ceremony.

An animal responding to its mirror image demonstrates animalipomorphic bias within the subject, conferring self-awareness and giving the test result no such anthropomorphic bias.

Also see:

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You mean non-human animals? Absolutely.