moral dogs

This interesting article talks a bit about research that might imply that dogs have developed a rudimentary sense of morality over the millennia of their interaction with humans. One of the more intriguing facts mentioned in the piece is that, as dogs evolved from wolves, their brains shrank. Did their insertion into a lower rung of the human dominance hierarchy produce a submissiveness that eventually resulted in such shrinkage? The article doesn't say.

Dog owners often see their pets as possessors of distinct personalities (I'd agree), and would probably claim that their pets also possess discernibly moral traits such as kindness, empathy, and even altruism. You hear stories, now and again, about dogs that have saved their owners at great risk to themselves. Whether the sum total of these anecdotes constitutes evidence of canine morality is debatable, but at the very least worthy of scrutiny.

Calling Dr. Pinker...


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