Document type: podcast from France Culture published on Radio France
Authors: Agatha Liévin-Bazin and Michel Kreutzer
Preview: Western ethological tradition likes to draw parallels with Descartes and his conception of the animal as a machine without inner life. Behaviorists have extended this view by focusing solely on stimuli and responses, relegating emotions and desires to the realm of naive anthropomorphism. Yet, from Darwin to Jane Goodall, another perspective has always persisted: one that recognizes that animals possess a genuine emotional life, not merely reflexes.
The reward circuit as a neurobiological marker of desire
In the 1950s, researcher James Olds discovered what is now known as thereward circuit. He demonstrated that animals are not driven solely by their basic needs. They actively seek out pleasurable situations and avoid others. In short, they have desires! So how can we study pleasure? Through sound: nearly 50 species produce vocalizations similar to human laughter, ranging from great apes to dolphins to crows. But also through play. Long interpreted as merely preparation for adult life, it is now recognized as an end in itself: adult animals play, invent, and get bored. Bumblebees roll wooden balls, and crows go sledding. The pleasure of the action takes precedence, far beyond any adaptive utility.
Non-reproductive hedonistic behaviors: the limits of the adaptive paradigm
Darwin had foreshadowedthis with his theory of sexual selection: the pursuit of pleasure can take precedence over utility. Masturbation is a perfect example. It is observed in many vertebrates, from primates to birds to cetaceans. Female macaques experience orgasms, and bonobos have turned pleasure into a social bond that goes beyond mere reproduction. Yet these behaviors have long been ignored or deemed aberrant because they did not fit into the utilitarian framework of reproduction. Recognizing pleasure for pleasure’s sake remains a challenge for some in the scientific community.
