Talking bout this in my Philosophy Class...

Do you think animals can express or feel emotions? We were talking about existentialism and that humans aren't based on their essence since Humans can make choices and have free will. Animals and objects are expressed by their essence pretty much meaning if you say two different colored chairs you know they are both chairs by their essence, they share the same chairishess. So going back to the main topic do you think animals are more than just essence and can express or feel emotions, other than instincts like fear or hunger?

Take a dog to a house they've never been before and they know what a door looks like.  The idea that what separates are the ability to grasp the ideal forms makes no sense.

Yes they can feel emotion very deeply, and it's very pronounced in dogs.  My dog has separation issues and doesn't like being left alone, so when we come home he runs up to greet us very excited.  He lets out these long groaning muffled sounding howls like he's trying to ask us where we've been all day.  Also if he walks into a room with a few people in it and no one looks at him or pays him any attention, he'll let out a big sigh and leave the room.

Why would someone think animals don't have emotions? The people who do must have never spent anytime near any animals ever.

A large number of animals including dogs, cats, pigs, monkeys, dolphins very obviously feel and express emotion quite clearly.  

Animals do have and express emotions. Now a real thinker would be, do animals ever question their own existence? The world may never know.

Descartes certainly did not think so.

" A large number of animals including dogs, cats, pigs, monkeys, dolphins very obviously feel and express emotion quite clearly.   "  

Man, chair-ness has been giving ought-to-be-unemployed Philosophers too much play for way too long. Any plain that is elevated more than a few inches, but is parallel to the surface of the earth (or any other gravitationally-significant body's surface) has the essence of 'chair-ness' by virtue of the fact you can put your ass on top of it and sit down!
 
As for animals versus humans, it's not about pain or animation or emotions, it's about the capacity for reason and communication. And so far only humans have that.

" @Jasonofindy said:

" A large number of animals including dogs, cats, pigs, monkeys, dolphins very obviously feel and express emotion quite clearly.   "  

Elephants too. "

yes I do, and I also think that they have thoughts just like humans. There has been no proof to show otherwise. 

Happened to see an article just yesterday about how chimps mourn the death of a loved one.

     No you do not call two chairs chairs because of their "essence". When you see what you call a "chair", you are only calling it that because it is convenient to do so. You recognize it as something that you use to sit on. You have sat on such an object of similar form in the past. You may have seen other people sitting on the object. Thus you call it a chair because it's form is so familiar to your past experience, and it is convenient to assume that it will act in a similar fashion to the objects of similar appearance that you have encountered in the past. So, as should be obvious, our definitions and understandings of something come from our perceptions and experiences with something. It's not because there is any "essence" in a chair that makes it a chair. It's because it is convenient for us to assume that it is a chair.
     Back to the initial topic. You are asking whether or not I think animals can express feelings or emotions. First you must understand what is being asked by the question then answering the question should be easy. First you must clarify what it means to express feelings or emotions. Can humans express feelings or emotions? How do I know these are feelings and emotions? and How do I know that I know anything? So as you can see it becomes a question of epistomology. If we follow the logic expressed above, then we can conclude that everything we know is based on experience. We are able to perceive, doubt and think of the things that we interact with, it is through this interaction that one can assume one exists. However this is just as much of an arbitrary connection as calling two objects by the same name. One can only be sure of one's own existence because one can only perceive and think from their own perspective. So, from this we conclude that in order for something to feel it must be able to think. By the same logic a chair probably is not able to express feeling because it does not think, or has not shown any inclination to thinking.
     So, on whether or not animals can express or feel sentiments, yes they probably can. But from the above logic, one cannot know for sure because everything we understand and claim to "know" is based on our experience. 
     You mentioned "instincts" like hunger or fear. Hunger and fear are emotions, they are felt/perceived by the perceiver. These emotions are no different from feelings of love or apathy.

"Man, chair-ness has been giving ought-to-be-unemployed Philosophers too much play for way too long. Any plain that is elevated more than a few inches, but is parallel to the surface of the earth (or any other gravitationally-significant body's surface) has the essence of 'chair-ness' by virtue of the fact you can put your ass on top of it and sit down!  As for animals versus humans, it's not about pain or animation or emotions, it's about the capacity for reason and communication. And so far only humans have that. "

There's only three questions you need to concern yourself with when discussing animals:
 
1) Is it bigger than me?
 
2) Is it poisonous?
 
3) Is it Oprah Winfrey?