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How do monkeys see the world? Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth
enter the minds of our evolutionary neighbours to explore a series of novel questions
about the nature of primate intelligence and the evolution of cognition. What
do monkeys know about the world? Are they aware of what they know? How might we
better understand what they know and how they know it? Like
humans, monkeys live in complex societies where individuals nurture close bonds
with kin, form shifting alliances, and try to strike a balance between competition
and cooperation. Is this nonhuman primate behavior really influenced by the same
kinds of self-knowledge, motives, and beliefs that govern human behavior, and,
if so, can we prove it? If not, how is a monkey's view of the world different
from that of a human? Cheney and Seyfarth present their
pioneering experiments on the predator alarm calls of vervet monkeys in East Africa.
They discuss the meaning of these and other calls and consider whether this vocal
communication -- like human language -- can reveal how monkeys think. They also
consider whether monkeys share the ability to attribute motives and beliefs to
their fellows -- a trait that many believe is unique to the human mind -- and
whether monkeys consciously practice deception by communicating false information.
Finally, Cheney and Seyfarth ask what monkeys know about other animals. Their
novel and unusual experiments suggest that, though monkeys seem to have extraordinarily
sophisticated knowledge about their own species, their knowledge of other species
appears to be very limited. How Monkeys See The World
is the first book to explore the communication and intelligence of free-ranging
primates using field experiments and the theories of modern cognitive science.
It is a fascinating reading for researchers in many fields -- animal behavior,
cognitive science, comparative psychology, philosophy of mind, anthropology, linguistics,
and artificial intelligence -- as well as for any general reader interested in
primate behavior and the evolution of cognition. Dorothy
L. Cheney is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert M. Seyfarth is associate professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
They are coeditors (with Barbara B. Smuts, Richard W. Wrangham, and Thomas T.
Struhsaker) of Primate Societies, also published by the University of Chicago
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