Title: On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a ‘theory of mind’
Abstract: Abstract After decades of effort by some of our brightest human and non-human minds, there is still little consensus on whether or not non-human animals understand anything about the unobservable mental states of other animals or even what it would mean for a non-verbal animal to understand the concept of a ‘mental state’. In the present paper, we confront four related and contentious questions head-on: (i) What exactly would it mean for a non-verbal organism to have an ‘understanding’ or a ‘representation’ of another animal’s mental state? (ii) What should (and should not) count as compelling empirical evidence that a non-verbal cognitive agent has a system for understanding or forming representations about mental states in a functionally adaptive manner?
Publication Year: 2009
Publication Date: 2009-11-29
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 24
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