Do Animals Believe In Supernatural Beings?

Examining animal behaviour and comparing it to the behaviour of humans is the other possible method.Is it thought that Neanderthals believed in supernatural beings? On what basis have any such (albeit speculative) conclusions been based?

Any definition of "supernatural" from any mainstream dictionary source will suffice.Do you have any actual examples of animals displaying such behaviour or are you just here to talk about definitions as per your usual pointless presence?

given the more speculative natire of this thread - Any definition of "supernatural" from any mainstream dictionary source will suffice.Are you happy now?

You have been given examples.I don't see how it is possible for my cat to view me as anything other than a mysterious miracle worker. There are so many things that I do that my cat simply could not understand. There are no feline-known explanations for some of the things I do. My cat's view of me, as far as I can tell, is about the same as the Israelites' view of Yahweh in various parts of the Bible. How are the powers of Jon any different than the powers of God? How does that not make me a supernatural being to my cat?Jon

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Well sadly we do not know what animals think she could think you are some alpha male/female that keeps her locked up and brings her food from the hunts you go to everytime you go to work. The cat could also think she is the supernatural being that you worship like a god offering her food, milk and try to furfill her every desire. She could also think you are a giant gullible animal that shares his hard hunted food with her.

When anthropologists discover remnants of ancient cultures and conclude that those cultures held supernatural beliefs how do they do this?We cannot know what they thought either can we?

Jon do you know how the solid state physics on which your computer functions works? Are those who create such things "mysterious miracle workers"? I suspect that there so many things that solid state physicists do that you could not understand.What is your point exactly?

Well, I don't have any. Using the definition of supernatural as being "of, pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal" it would seem to require a level of doublethink that I have seen no reason to expect animals are capable of attaining. In fact I suspect that sufficiently primitive human cultures would lack such a concept.

Given the conjectural nature of this thread feel free to apply any common definition of "supernatural" you can find in any reputable dictionary, encyclopedia or similar source.If you cannot find any examples that meet even that widest of criteria then I have to ask why you bothered to contribute to this thread at all?Aside from taking the opportunity to be complete pedantic arse about definitions that is.

A highly speculative example: LinkPotential signs of religiosity in apes? Or wild speculation on the part of humans?

You asked a question and I answered in the negative. It seems you may be suffering from some pretty serious bias if you refuse to define any terms but want to go have a cry when someone doesn't agree with you.But then you take an opportunity to complain about my attempts to wring a cohesive topic of discussion out of this thread. So how about you take your arrogant prick of an attitude and shove it straight up the greasy sphincter that passes for your mouth.It would really improve the thread.

Only because I don't believe they are. How is this relevant? Likely. What does that have to do with the topic?Jon

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Check out Apollo's Temple!
Ignorance is temporary; you should be able to overcome it. - nwr

The problem with using the same method on animals is, as I've already said: animals aren't humans. It is easier for us to conjecture on possible reasons for burying dead folk with jewelry because those practices are like our own, and those people are like ourselves. But to watch a bunch of monkeys jump up and down or observe an elephant seeming sad about another dead elephant and conclude that these are evidence of religious behavior is just stupid and illogical. We're doing a good job of personifying our subjects, but we certainly aren't answering any questions regarding why they actually behave the way they do.To guess at the reasons for someone within our own species doing something based on why we do it is enough of a stretch the way it is. Jumping outside of our species and trying to draw conclusions in the same fashion is an even bigger stretch, absolute malarkey, in fact.And, of course, even if we could show that the monkeys danced to coax out the rain, it still wouldn't tell us whether they believed in the 'supernatural'. They may believe what they do to be very much a part of nature. We may call it 'supernatural', but that doesn't mean they call it the same.It's all so relative; I don't see how we could ever get an answer given only what we know now.Jon

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Check out Apollo's Temple!
Ignorance is temporary; you should be able to overcome it. - nwr

As would your absence.

And what makes you think that your cat believes that you are? It was you that raised inability to understand and "mysterious miracle workers" as equating to supernatural belief.Can you tell me which common dictionary definition of "supernatural" you were using to come to this conclusion?