Actually wanting to die—as opposed to just executing a behavior which leads
to your death—requires that you have the concept of your own death. Is there
any evidence that any other species even has that concept?
That seems pretty obvious to me—animals are not stupid—but I don’t really know what type of evidence you would accept.
Anyway the premise seems wrong. By “wanting to die” all I meant was that the organsm engages in behaviour that leads to death. I wasn’t suggesting spiders and praying mantis exhibited very much abstract thought. A plant can “want to die”—in that sense of the word. However, it is non-biological idea—something we don’t expect to see much—and in fact don’t see much.
That seems pretty obvious to me—animals are not stupid—but I don’t really know what type of evidence you would accept.
http://www.inquisitr.com/44905/amazing-photo-of-a-chimpanzee-funeral/
Anyway the premise seems wrong. By “wanting to die” all I meant was that the organsm engages in behaviour that leads to death. I wasn’t suggesting spiders and praying mantis exhibited very much abstract thought. A plant can “want to die”—in that sense of the word. However, it is non-biological idea—something we don’t expect to see much—and in fact don’t see much.