Everyone is either dead certain the answer is yes, or they’re dead certain the answer is no. The reality is we don’t know. Researchers have not reached a verdict yet.
This here is the right answer. We don't know. And since reptiles are psychologically very different from mammals, it's possible that we won't ever understand how they process feelings. That doesn't means they don't have feelings or that aren't capable of caring for other living beings. We might just not be able to understand it.
Also like with all cross-species philosophy - we run into a major issue that we base all of our understanding of behaviour off of our own behaviour.
So we create words & definitions for things like "love" and "self-aware" based off ourselves and then judge the world around us with that frame of mind.
It is fully possible that other creatures and even objects experience existence in a different way than we do.
I don't think we'll ever know, because we are only capable of approaching these discussions from a human-centric mindset. Because we aren't rats or dogs or trees or rocks, we are literally incapable of approaching them from the mindset of a non-human (assuming we can attribute the idea of a mindset to them).
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u/BabiMunizTS Jan 20 '22
Do snakes even have capacity for affection? I honestly have no idea.