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Animal Minds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

Marta Halina
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

Summary

Animal minds are complex and diverse, making them difficult to study. This Element focuses on a question that has received much attention in the field of comparative cognition: 'Do animals reason about unobservable variables like force and mental states?' The Element shows how researchers design studies and gather evidence to address this question. Despite the many virtues of current methods, hypotheses in comparative cognition are often underdetermined by the empirical evidence. Given this, philosophers and scientists have recently called for additional behavioral constraints on theorizing in the field. The Element endorses this proposal (known as 'signature testing'), while also arguing that studies on animal minds would benefit from drawing more heavily on neuroscience and biology.
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Animal Minds
  • Marta Halina, University of Cambridge
  • Online ISBN: 9781009119962
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Animal Minds
  • Marta Halina, University of Cambridge
  • Online ISBN: 9781009119962
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Animal Minds
  • Marta Halina, University of Cambridge
  • Online ISBN: 9781009119962
Available formats
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