The Conservative Cat

Most lower animals have the ability to learn. If you feed a rooster every time it rings a bell, it will eventually learn that ringing the bell is a good thing to do when you're hungry.

Higher mammals can generalize on observed facts to come up with solutions to problems they haven't encountered before. The odd thing is, the only time you really notice this going on is when it goes horribly wrong.

The picture here is an excellent example. I like to sleep near the Gremlin's feet, but she's so thin I can't get the proper balance. So, the obvious solution is to grab one of her feet and move it away from the other foot so that I can sleep in between them. This makes perfect sense, but I grab things with my mouth, and it turns out that even when she's wearing socks, the pressure required to get a firm grip on the Gremlin's foot causes a severe negative reaction.

Anyway, the point is, there's a big difference between learning and reasoning, and the ability to reason is not the same thing as the ability to know the truth.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat