The selves of all animals

摘要

"It seems reasonable since art copies nature, and men can make various automata which move without thought, that nature should produce its own automata much more splendid than the artificial ones. These natural automata are the animals," wrote Descartes in a letter to the British philosopher Henry More on 5 February 1649. For the past 60 years, partly due to Descartes, the cognitive sciences have focused on human intelligence as though it were unique or qualitatively different from that of all other creatures on Earth. While this view of cognition has not gone uncriticised, the most pernicious scientific effect is its misleading assumption that knowledge, judgement, emotions and other cognitive functions are largely, if not exclusively, manifest in language-like representations in the brain. Alongside that comes a troubling inability to appreciate, respect, or learn from our fellow animals.