“It seems that I’d have to read some material in this course” That’s what I usually think in the beginning of the course and this was also the case (of me thinking like that).

Today we have lecture #8 and we are talking about creation of knowledge.

Someone in the lecture stated “There are a lot of things that we do without using our brain.” Right. Like dying or being dead.

We deviated a lot to talk about three off-topics:

• Memory, Fantasy and reflexes
• Can animals have knowledge?
• What’s the connection between knowledge and memory?

I personally think that all primates and also some other animals have both reflexes and memory. For example a parrot remembering (and understanding?) words or caged monkey that has learned how the padlock on a cage works just by looking at his/her feeders and in the right time hastily snatches the padlock to hide it away.

Or the other way around – a husband hitting his wife when he becomes angry. He would rarely do that “on purpose”. That’s a conditional reflex based in the past.

So anyway, do animals have knowledge or not? The professor thinks they don’t. What about you? ;)