Mind or Instinct: An Inquiry Concerning the Manifestation of Mind by the Lower Orders of Animals.

About Mind or Instinct: An Inquiry Concerning the Manifestation of Mind by the Lower Orders of Animals

"Mind or Instinct: An Inquiry Concerning the Manifestation of Mind by the Lower Orders of Animals" is an 1843 essay by American anthropologist Lewis H. Morgan, published under the pseudonym "Aquarius" in The Knickerbocker. Morgan argues that humans and other animals possess the same intellectual principle, differing in the degree to which their mental abilities are developed. Examining animal memory, abstraction, imagination and animal reasoning, he rejects the distinction between human intelligence and animal instinct as an adequate explanation of animal behavior. The essay concludes with reflections on human obligations towards animals, including opposition to cruelty and consideration of vegetarianism.