The Mental Homologies of Mammals. Towards an Understanding of Another Mammals World View

摘要

Simple SummaryMammals are defined by their similarities in bodies, behaviours and minds, where the mind is defined as the organized totality of mental processes. Mental similarities between related species, known as homologies, have largely been ignored by cognitive scientists since Darwin. Today, some behavioural scientists hold a series of beliefs which do not recognize them. However, people who have to do with animals daily have always recognized common mental traits they have with their animals. After 25 years of multi-disciplinary study, nine important mammalian mental homologies have been delineated: (1) All mammals have innate behaviour tendencies which are molded by the individual’s lifetime experiences. (2) They are sentient (that is they feel and have emotions) and consequently are conscious: awake and aware of the world. (3) They all learn in similar ways. (4) They all have to acquire ecological knowledge to live and reproduce. (5) They acquire social knowledge, have a social contract and can develop different traditions and cultures. (6) They have to know about others’ intentions to be social, that is they all have a “theory of mind”: an awareness that others have body/mind beings. (7) They are aware of their own body and feelings, thus they must be self-aware. (8) They are moral agents because they know when they have obeyed the social contract and when not. (9) They have a simple aesthetic sense because they like some things and dislike others. Sentience appears to be the power house behind these and other mental aptitudes which follow from them such as beliefs, decisions, episodic memory, imagination and mental time travel. In order to compare the “beings” (body-mine wholes) of different species and their world views, Conditional Anthropomorphism is proposed. This recognizes our common mental traits (anthropomorphism) takes into account different species specialties and examines the past experience of that individual to indicate how his/her world view is molded by lifetime experiences (conditional). Such studies are essential to improve their welfare and enriching our lives.