Do animals empathize?
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
It has occurred to me that the human may be the only animal except perhaps for a few of the other apes which can put itself in the place of another, see things from the other’s point of view. It is difficult to imagine my cat feeling sorry for me, or a horse sharing the farmer’s pride in the field well plowed. And yet we attribute the ability to empathize to other animals all the time, in books and movies and in real life. If I am sad at a time when I have only my cat for company, I will pretend that she understands, that she ‘feels my pain’. It’s only pretending, though; I don’t really believe she’s thinking about much besides whether I’ll put her off the bed.
