Chapter 3 The Intelligence of Dolphins

Question: Are dolphins intelligent?

  1. Why choose Dolphins?
    1. They have been extensively studied
    2. Ratio of brain mass to body mass is similar to human; they also have a highly developed cortex
    3. Dolphins are social and live in well defined social structures
  1. They are socially dependent and must be in order to flourish
  2. They develop strategies as a group.
    1. They excel at vocal learning and communicate
    2. They are purposive
    3. They are playful.
  2. Some important philosophical claims
    1. How do we distinguish action from a set of bodily movements?
  1. Actions imply purposes and goals; mere movement does not necessarily imply a goal.
  1. What is the range of activities that we find in activities?
    1. Perceptual recognition
    2. Perceptual attention
    3. Response to recognitions
    4. Curiosity
    5. Affection
    6. Fear
    7. Co-operation
  2. Some more philosophical claims
    1. Aquinas notes a feature of Good—“good has the ratio of a goal.”

From a Latin dictionary

  • ratio: procedure, theory.
  • ratio: reckoning, account /reason, judgment, consideration.
  • ratio: system, manner, method, procedure, manner.
  • rationabiliter: reasonably

 

    1. Humans (and other species) are goal directed in virtue of the fact that they recognize goods.
    2. To ascribe a set of goods to a species is also to ascribe reasons
    3. If we can identify goods, we can also ascribe reasons
    4. The truth or falsity of sentence about acting for a reason depends upon whether or not, that action is conducive to achieving the end—one need not also have an utterance to the effect “I am going to do x.”
  2. If we are to ascribe reasons to animals we need to do the following three things
    1. Identify a set of goods
    2. Identify a set of judgments about what actions aid in attaining those goods
    3. Identify a set of true counter-factual conditional statements.
  3. An example of #5
    1. Eating fish is a dolphin good
    2. Hunting co-operatively using scouts is a good way to hunt.
    3. If the scouts locate fish and signal to the herd, the herd will change course toward the scouts, unless something prevents course change or unless fish are immediately ahead of the herd.  (A true counter-factual conditional statement)
  4. Human training of dolphins also suggests that dolphins recognize and respond to achieving certain goals.
    1. These activities suggest that dolphins are not just passive recipients of perceptions.
    2. Dolphins also show pleasure in goal achievement and this account is like Aristotle’s account of pleasure in humans.
  5. Question: What is language?
    1. Dolphins have communication (is communication language?)
    2. Dolphins have comprehension (is comprehension language?)
    3. Some have also suggested that dolphins have syntax (is syntax language?)
  1. One experiment noted that dolphins could be taught a language and recognize when the syntax of was improperly formed.
  2. E.g. a dolphin could distinguish between the following sentences: a) take the Frisbee to the surfboard and b) Take the surfboard to the Frisbee.
  1. The question of whether dolphins have language and the significance of this experiment will be deferred until later.  In the meantime we will need three things
    1. A Rough and ready account of language
    2. Philosophical arguments against the ascription of language to dolphins
    3. How we should characterize the intelligent activity of dolphins in relation to our characterization of ourselves.

For more on dolphin research MacIntyre declares that his primary source is:

Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles edd. Karen Pryor and Kenneth S. Norris, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991)