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Originally Posted by Pierre
But then no animal I'm aware of wants to be killed and eaten.
The instinct of every animal, I think, is to survive.
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Survival isn't the same as 'not wanting to be dead'. Not wanting to be killed really comes from the fact that the act of being killed is usually rather painful. Fear of heights after all, doesn't come from not wanting to be high, it comes from the fear of rapid lithobraking when you lose height too quickly.
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They know they cannot do that if they're dead. So they try to avoid lions and sharks. Therefore they are aware that they are alive, and if they are eaten they are dead.
So wouldn't that suggest they are aware of their mortality?
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No. Would you say a baby who tastes something that's disgusting and then avoids it necessarily does so because they are 'aware of poisons' or the concept of rotting food? Would you say an animal that avoids electric shocks is necessarily aware of electricity?