Do monkey's have consciences? Where did we get ours?

I don`t think Monkey`s have consciences. I personally think Humans develop a conscience when they reach a certain age and are taught right from wrong.

God .... monkey has instinct

Monkeys are also social animals and conscience, I believe, is a product of evolution... something we've developed in order to be a higher species.

Your picture shows chimps NOT monkeys! There is a huge difference!

They arent chimps either, more like protohomonids.

When we began eating meat with high protein that made our brains grow and create new circuitry.

do you the link?

Don't understand?

about protein....I thought animals always ate meat

No carnivores do. Omnivores (humans) eat both animal and non animal.It's complicated to even find a link to explain my comment in a simple manner.The vegetarians bought out and took over the first few pages of google for their one sided bias answers.Humans needed HIGH protein consumption which was lacking.Thus tools and killing animals rather than eating scraps left by other animals ALLOWED our brains to evolve to a larger size.But that's not the same as saying an animal that eats a diet like a lion high in protein consumption will develop a larger brain and a larger brain doesn't mean more intelligence.Now our brains developed through tools and fire for more protein rich foods from animals and we also have more developed vocal chords for speech and on and on,because of how protein made our brains develop more intelligence over time.Chimps because their protein intake doesn't change the brain circuitry like it does in humans are now just starting to hunt with spears for example.But what do I know? I'm still evolving. :)

bonobo chimps. Very interesting how we share our better qualities of compassion and equality between sexes with them.
I don't know how evolution and creationism merge but why can't they?
Who did Cain and Abel marry?

Conscience is the understanding of the different between right and wrong. that in itself depends on societal and environmental factors. An ape or monkey are known to protect their young from predators, that we would clearly see as right, but are known for aggressive tendencies which we would consider wrong....but still do anyway.

where do we get ours? simple societal understandings developed over hundreds of thousands of years. it is essentially a group collective that we have defined what is right or wrong. we, as a species, are physically weak compared to many predators out there and thus have to work in groups and live together to survive. in order to work effectively and safely, a consensus builds on what is acceptable and what is not - what you may think of as a conscience.

when you compare a street gang to a group of intellectuals then there is a difference of conscience. the gang are likely to beat up or even kill a rival gang member for what they believe is the right and just thing. the intellectuals are unlikely to think this way and their conscience says it is wrong ethically.

it's long, i know, but i thought id throw in my thoughts on the matter. there's a lot more that could be said but that would mean reading a long essay that people are unlikely to enjoy.

You are right, a conscience has evolved in humans for milliniums now,, trial and error,, you know primative man learned it hurt to get hit in the head, so in turn he decided not to hit others in the head because he didnt want it done to him... a persons concept of right and wrong (conscience) is determined by education and societies pressures....

Consciences evolved in social animals to promote tribal cohesion.

how?

I can't say for sure. But humans are social animals and people or organisms that live in social groups must mind the interest of others or risk being ostracized. People who have a conscience feel bad when harming others. Ostracized individuals would have less success at producing offspring, and so their genes would be less likely to pass to the next generation. In this way, social cohesion would self select for the "conscience gene" or combinations of genes.

Maybe. But not on the same scale as humans.

I think so, I once watched a show gauging Animals consciousness and awareness of themselves, they are certainly masters of deception, stealing apples out of a bucket that a scientist has his back turned to, and not out of the bucket where another scientist was watching, they know their reflection when they see it, Dolphins also, so, who knows?

Good argument.

I don't know about monkeys, but I believe once Adam and Eve's eyes were opened they knew they had done wrong. It was passed down from there.