Abstract. While growing empirical evidence suggests a continuity between human and non-human psychology, many philosophers still think that only humans can act
This document is a scholarly discussion on the cognitive abilities of animals, particularly great apes, and their capacity for what the authors term “reflective responsiveness to evidence.” This essentially means the ability to identify and assess evidence, a cognitive process often associated with human reasoning.
The authors argue that animals, especially great apes, exhibit a level of cognitive sophistication that allows them to respond to conflicting evidence and make decisions based on their assessment of this evidence. This is demonstrated through various studies. For example, one study showed that apes could use their experience with a screen that was either translucent or opaque to predict the behavior of others who encountered the same screen. This suggests that apes can understand how environmental factors can affect the reliability of a source of evidence.
Another study showed that chimpanzees could take into account what an experimenter could and could not see to decide where to steal food from. This suggests that chimpanzees can make decisions based on their understanding of what evidence will be available to others.
The authors also discuss the idea that animals can entertain questioning attitudes driven by curiosity, which could potentially allow them to ascend to the level of reflective responsiveness to reasons. This means that animals might be able to ask themselves non-verbal versions of ‘why?’ questions, which would indicate a higher level of cognitive sophistication.
The authors suggest that these findings could open up new avenues of research into animal cognition. They also argue that these findings challenge the idea that only humans are capable of reflective responsiveness to evidence, suggesting that this cognitive ability might be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought.
In summary, this document presents compelling evidence that animals, particularly great apes, may possess a level of cognitive sophistication that allows them to identify and assess evidence in a similar way to humans. This could have significant implications for our understanding of animal cognition and behavior.
Summary made by Quivr/GPt-4
This document is a scholarly discussion on the cognitive abilities of animals, particularly great apes, and their capacity for what the authors term “reflective responsiveness to evidence.” This essentially means the ability to identify and assess evidence, a cognitive process often associated with human reasoning.
The authors argue that animals, especially great apes, exhibit a level of cognitive sophistication that allows them to respond to conflicting evidence and make decisions based on their assessment of this evidence. This is demonstrated through various studies. For example, one study showed that apes could use their experience with a screen that was either translucent or opaque to predict the behavior of others who encountered the same screen. This suggests that apes can understand how environmental factors can affect the reliability of a source of evidence.
Another study showed that chimpanzees could take into account what an experimenter could and could not see to decide where to steal food from. This suggests that chimpanzees can make decisions based on their understanding of what evidence will be available to others.
The authors also discuss the idea that animals can entertain questioning attitudes driven by curiosity, which could potentially allow them to ascend to the level of reflective responsiveness to reasons. This means that animals might be able to ask themselves non-verbal versions of ‘why?’ questions, which would indicate a higher level of cognitive sophistication.
The authors suggest that these findings could open up new avenues of research into animal cognition. They also argue that these findings challenge the idea that only humans are capable of reflective responsiveness to evidence, suggesting that this cognitive ability might be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought.
In summary, this document presents compelling evidence that animals, particularly great apes, may possess a level of cognitive sophistication that allows them to identify and assess evidence in a similar way to humans. This could have significant implications for our understanding of animal cognition and behavior.