Sentience vs sapience1/7/2023 Id grant the other great apes (gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee, bonobo, perhaps gibbons) sapience. Non human primates are the most sapient animals after us. Do they get jostled into sapience alot from the complexities of navigating human environments? Or do we just observe them way more? People including myself usually notice tjis most on cats and dogs. Many birds and mammals can problem solve. I dunno.i wouldnt simplify sapience to just mean problem solving. Personally, the answer isn't in the difference between, but in the inclusion of both, that defines what we are. if humans act out based on sentiment, how are they better than animals? but if they act only on sapient thought, they become something else, in my opinion much worse. Versus someone who sees a problem, steps back and evaluates each and every angle of perspective, cause and effect, and concludes that it is not something that they can effect or will effect them, and walk on by ignoring the problem altogether.Įach has seen the problem, acknowledged the problem but neither were able to improve the circumstances because each acted entirely dependent on either sapient thought or sentient emotions.Įach by itself cannot be used exclusively if we are to be able to handle our human condition. I should turn that off.)Īnd animals do show capacity for sapience as described by woody with his dog (wouldn't mind hearing more about the circumstances to that incident) but I think that it isn't so much a question of who or what is sapient or sentient, but how much each entity whether human or animal is capable or willing to use each that defines us.įor example, a person who sees something wrong and immediately acts out to correct it, spending all their time and energy fighting a battle they don't understand. I will react to stimuli based on what is sensed in my environment (ow, hurt, hand away from stove!) before I can have a sapient thought of what in my environment caused the stimuli. I know I sometimes act out of what I feel over what I think, (aka, emotions over logic). I want to say that Niles and Woody, and the summary of their perspectives conclude that while humans are more sapient than animals, we are still just as bound to our sentient nature as animals. To Anonymous: hehe, short answer, probably not. Sentience is commonly used in science fiction and fantasy as synonymous with sapience, although the words aren't synonyms. Does applying the proper definitions change your interpretation of the stories? If all the characters in Star Trek (or your favorite Sci-Fi show) know that sentience is the ability to perceive but not to reason, does their use of the word mean they're all mostly vegan? Most animals are sentient, (yes, you can correctly say your dog is sentient!) but only humans are sapient.įor further reading on the difference, check out these articles:ĪskDefine Sentience (of particular interest is the user-contributed dictionary) It may not seem like much a difference, but the ability to reason is tied more closely to sapience than to sentience. "Sapience," noun of sapient, is the ability to think, and to reason. Sentient: 1: responsive to or conscious of sense impressions 2: AWARE 3: finely sensitive in perception or feeling According to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, the exact definition is: "Sentience," the noun form of "sentient," frequently heard in science fiction and fantasy, means the ability to perceive individual experiences. This morning, let's take a quick look at a frequently misused, or at least misunderstood, set of terms.Ĭommon mistake: Sapience versus Sentience
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