"No one has ever contemplated what it is like to be a zucchini because
zucchini's lack minds. But we certainly have wondered what it is like
to be a predatory lion, or an echolocating bat or a brachiating
monkey. That is because such animals presumably do have minds. But
what kind of minds? Allen and Bekoff morph the disciplines of
philosophy and ethology to provide a lucid analysis of how animals
think and what they think about. If you want a fun romp on the wild
side of animal minds, read this book."
-- Marc Hauser, Associate Professor, Departments of
Anthropology and Psychology, Program in Neurosciences, Harvard
University
Colin Allen (a philosopher) and Marc Bekoff (a cognitive ethologist)
approach their work from a perspective that considers arguments about
evolutionary continuity to be as applicable to the study of animal
minds and brains as they are to comparative studies of kidneys,
stomachs, and hearts. Cognitive ethologists study the comparative,
evolutionary, and ecological aspects of the mental phenomena of
animals. Philosophy can provide cognitive ethology with an analytical
basis for attributing cognition to nonhuman animals and for studying
it, and cognitive ethology can help philosophy to explain mentality in
naturalistic terms by providing data on the evolution of cognition.
This interdiscipinary approach reveals flaws in common objections to
the view that animals have minds.
The heart of the book is this reciprocal relationship between
philosophical theories of mind and empirical studies of animal
cognition. All theoretical discussion is carefully tied to case
studies, particularly in the areas of antipredatory vigilance and
social play, where there are many points of contact with philosophical
discussions of intentionality and representation. Allen and Bekoff
make specific suggestions about how to use philosophical theories of
intentionality as starting points for empirical investigation of
animal minds, and they stress the importance of studying animals other
than nonhuman primates.
More on the Species of Mind
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