Just thinking about the Superego and animals. In class, we determined that some animals have a quasi-Superego. One of the examples of this that I thought of was my friend's cat. When his owner is out of the house, even if there are other humans present to give him treats, he will pace around the house meowing, looking into his owners room and sniffing around her bed, trying desperately to find her. Now, if the cat only had an ego and an id, he wouldn't have a reason to look for his owner. He has the needs of the id covered (with shelter and food) and the feelings of the ego keeping the id in check (getting toys for behaving). So why would the cat feel loneliness when the owner leaves?
Another example of the quasi-Superego in animals would be horses. I heard a story of something that happened at a barn I used to help out at (though I was not there when the incident occurred). A girl was riding around on her horse, a very well behaved creature that she had owned for a long time. Supposedly, the horse had seemed nervous about something but was keeping itself relatively calm. Suddenly, the horse reared up and fell backwards, landing almost entirely on top of the girl. The girl was, amazingly, relatively unhurt, which was determined by X-rays taken at the hospital. However, the X-ray revealed a tumor that the girl had (one that nobody knew about), and she was immediately given surgery to remove the tumor. If she hadn't gotten the surgery then, or if the tumor was not detected, it would have killed her. Now, some people would argue this as coincidence, but why would a horse who knows that behaving badly (such as rearing) means punishment, but rear up anyway? It was a very well trained horse. I believe that horses (and other animals) have the ability to sense things that humans simply can't. Whether intentionally or not, the horse saved the girl's life.
Any thoughts on these stories?
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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In response to your stories about particularly intelligent animals I have been thinking about this story with the horse and it is really fascinating to me. I think with respect to that specific story, I would need to have more information (to the point that I would argue that I would have needed to be there to fully appreciate the situation's intensity) so that I could appropriately argue the truth behind it.
ReplyDeleteBut that is more trailing away from what I got excited about in the first place, for it is the mystical side of this specific story that is catching my attention so strongly. I think that I would like to believe that animals have certain senses that are just amazingly more talented than humans to the point that they can provide miracles as suggested in that story. But part of me can't shake the idea that even if they had the ability to tell these certain things, why would they be so interested in helping the human beings that are keeping them captive? It seems frighteningly selfless of a horse that has been locked up its entire life within a barn community to decide one day that it is going to help a little girl with her tumor situation. This makes me think that if they actually had the capacity for that much compassion, then they would indeed have a superego that is present; that they would help when they felt it was appropriate. The sheer lack of other examples of this compassion leads me to believe that it is unfortunately not present...
But then again: it did happen, and I can't deny that it was possibly purposeful. So I will leave the open minded idea that in outrageously rare occasions, animals may have brief bursts of superego that is present to give them the ability to help out.
What do you believe to be the case? Do you personally think that animals secretely have these talents they have hidden away?
Do you have any other personal examples?