The Philosophy of Dog Intelligence - Essay Example

Dogs and their Intelligence The history of dogs and their intelligence s back to the studies of ancient Greek philosophers, who applied their time to study the psychology of the intelligence of dogs and how it is related to the psychology of man. One of such Greek philosophers who applied his time to study the dog psychology was Socrates, who contends that a combination of both gentle and bad character within humans is possible (Rosen, 2008). In defending this argument, Socrates introduced the “noble dog psychology”, where Socrates argued that a dog that is considered by its owner to be noble must be gentle to its owner and those it knows, and harshly ferocious to the enemies (). Studying the dog psychology, Socrates contends that dogs are naturally wild, but are trained by human beings to be both gentle and wild. This combined nature of trained dogs is what Socrates considered as spiritedness and intelligence, contending that spiritedness gives a dog the courage to attack, but intelligence gives he dog the ability to differentiate the owner (friends) from (enemies) strangers (Rosen, 2008). The philosophy of dog intelligence continued through to the Greco-Roman period, where the dog became the epitome of the Hellenistic philosophy, especially under the Cynicism philosophy advanced the concept of living for virtue (William, 2008). Thus, this philosophy advocated for living life through happiness and freedom, is devoid of any baggage such as property ownership. The notable advent of the cynicism philosophy was Diogenes, who introduced the concept of dog life, which was interpreted to mean living in agreement with nature (Bracht, 2000). The dog psychology advanced by the cynicism philosophy was that a dog, though intelligent to differentiate between friends and enemies, lives according to nature by only requiring the bare necessities of life. Therefore, the Cynicism philosophy was formulated to emulate the dog psychology, which entails being shameless and disregarding reputation, power, money and wealth (Bracht, 2000). Diogenes further advanced the dog philosophy that training of both the mind and the body is essential for the effective performance of a dog. In this respect, humans should also adapt continuous body and mind training, as a prerequisite for living a life of happiness and freedom, considering the fact that health and vigor which are components of body training are necessary for practicing of what is good, enabling humans to live for virtue (William, 2008). The period after the fall of the Roman Empire, also known as the dark ages, was a difficult time for the history of human civilization. Animals were dying of strange diseases, while man became less and less interested in caring for pets. Therefore, dogs without owners were left to roam around, seeking for food. The dark ages represent a period of human history when civilization and urban life abruptly came to an end, and warfare became more manifested (Williams, 2006). Consequently, the human gains that were made during the ancient Greek and the Greco-Roman period were lost and a culture of barbarism set in. however, one notable advancement marked this dark period of human advancement; the pronouncement of dog intelligence and companionship (Méry, 1970). The dog intelligence became more pronounced in the dark ages. This is most especially after the conventional use of dogs for hunting during the ancient history changed, such that the dogs became more meaningful to man than just mere protectors and hunters, to meaningful companions. In the dark ages, the monasteries exposed the dogs intelligence when they experimented with dog breeding and eventually came up with more stable, intelligent and easily trainable dogs (Jacobs, 2012). Thus, the concept of dog training became more pronounced in the dark ages, where the dog intelligence was over-pronounced to match that man. Consequently, the monasteries settled on the breeding of dogs as a major occupation, where they could breed and train dogs, and then sell them to the nobility (Méry, 1970). The breeding and training of dogs by the monasteries gave rise to the concept of dogs as pets, as opposed to their previous use for protection and hunting. Consequently, the nobility started bringing their dogs with them to church, sparking a controversy with the priests. Terming the dogs as an important part of the lives, the nobility sat with their dogs outside the church for church services, and consequently the custom of blessing animals on the church steps began (Méry, 1970). Thus, starting the dark ages, the relevance of dogs in human life has continued to increase through the middle ages and up to the modern day. The middle ages were the most important years of dogs’ discovery, as long as their intelligence, role-performance and value are concerned. It is during the later stages of middle ages that dogs became indispensable to man, since their roles transformed from that of merely hunting and protection, to more manifested roles of sports and games, pets and also for use in herding (). During the middle ages, the intelligence level of dogs was discovered to be high, such that they could be trained to participate in human leisure and recreational activities such as sports and games. Additionally, since the middle ages were characterized by agriculture, the intelligence level of dogs was discovered to be sufficient for herding the animals on the fields, thus giving man an easy time in such duties. Therefore, dogs were trained to participate in hunting and hawking sports, eventually making this sporting activities the most popular of the middle ages leisure activities (). The fidelity and intelligence of the dogs became the most admired character of the performing dogs in the Middle Ages, consequently making the present of a greyhound one of the most priced gifts that heroes would be honored with. The mistresses were also honored with the small species of greyhounds from Italy, which they turned into their pets and playfellows (). This occurred because the intelligence of dogs was discovered to sufficient to replicate most of the human actions and moves during this age of human history. Therefore, medieval hunting became a popular sport that was highly enjoyed by the landlords and the nobility, having discovered that the intelligence of dogs was capable allowing the dogs participate in activities that would make fun. Nevertheless, it is during the renaissance that the intelligence of dogs became more pronounced, thus making dogs the best friends to man. During the Renaissance period, the history of human civilization was reviving, and the aristocrats were taking hold of power and dominance, thus subjecting the rest of the people to their rule (). Thus, the aristocracy took over tracts of fertile lands and even created royal; forests for themselves, where the commoners were not allowed to go hunting. Therefore, the study of dogs and their level of intelligence took a center stage in the renaissance period, because they were now meant to be used dutifully, as opposed to the traditional use of dogs as pets and for companionship (). To achieve the goal of keeping the commoners off their property, the study and training of dogs to attack and keep off strangers became a routine for the aristocrats, who in turn used the dogs’ intelligence to scare away people off their land and the royal forests, through training the dogs to attack strangers to the lands (). It is through the closer study of dogs during the renaissance that paved way for starting using dogs for even more important studies. Thus, in the beginning of psychology in later years, scholars looked around the life of humans, and all they could see was the relationship between man and dogs. Consequently and inevitably, dogs became the subject of psychological studies. This is because; the fact that the level of dog’s intelligence was observed to be higher than that of most animals, while at the same time, the scholars found that the friendly relationship between dogs and man could be used as a platform for using the dogs in psychological studies, since they could be manipulated in ways that humans could not ().Thus the dogs and their intelligence became the source of fundamental psychological theories that have transformed the world notably. The history of beginning of psychology has the dogs as a major component, staring with the Theory of Soul that was developed by Aristotle, which holds that the soul is the power that enables the body (matter) to function. To back this psychological argument, Aristotle used the dog as the subject. Therefore, the dog was used to refute the psychological reasoning by Descartes, that soul and matter creates the duality of humans, rather showing that soul and matter creates unity not duality (Barnes, 1984). The other notable, but the most influential psychological theory under which dogs were used as the subject is the Classical conditioning theory by Ivan Pavlov (Pavlov, 1927). The experiment conducted by Pavlov on dogs has become the background of reflex response knowledge that the world has today. However, this would not have been possible, without putting the intelligence of dogs into test, and realizing that they equally responded to stimulus as humans do. Thus, courtesy of the dogs and their intelligence, the world knows that there are reflexes in humans, which account for the responses to stimuli that are not under conscious control (Hock, 2002). Read More