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Jessica Krueger's picture

For example, mammals have

Submitted by Jessica Krueger on Sun, 02/10/2008 - 7:00pm.
For example, mammals have mammary glands. The fact that we put the baby against our breasts to feed them is a conscious thing. The whole maternal usage of mammary glands is instinct.

I'm not sure what your argument is overall, but I think I agree to a certain degree. While breastfeeding is inherently mammalian (baring platypuses), it often requires overt, verbal instruction to get a human female to breast feed her infant properly. However, I would argue that "knowledge" is a pretty exclusively human concept and that there are plenty of mammal-females who are very adept at nursing without any instruction. The argument that lizards or birds will never have "knowledge" of mammary glands could also be said of a cat who will never know the joy of grasping with an opposable thumb.

 

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