What do animals know about appearance, reality, and the mind?Robert Lurz (CUNY)
Rm. 1103
6 E. 16th St.
New York 10003
United States
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Abstract: To understand that the world can be different from what you or others think or perceive it to be is, arguably, one of the most profound insights in the development of the human mind. Some, in fact, argue that this insight belongs to the human mind alone, that no nonhuman animal is capable of understanding the difference between appearance and reality as it applies to themselves and others. In opposition to this opinion, I present some recent data on chimpanzees that suggest that they, too, may understand the difference between how things appear to themselves and how those things really are. It remains an open question at the moment, however, whether the chimpanzee can also understand this distinction as it applies to others -- that is, whether it can understand that something may appear a certain way to another subject even though the chimpanzee knows that this thing isn’t that way at all. I will discuss an experimental protocol that my colleague (Carla Krachun) and I have designed and are beginning to use to test chimpanzee understanding of perceptual appearances in others.
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