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In Animal Minds, Donald R. Griffin takes us on a guided
tour of the recent explosion of scientific research on animal mentality. Are animals
consciously aware of anything, or are they merely living machines, incapable of
conscious thoughts or emotional feelings? How can we tell? Such questions have
long fascinated Griffin, who has been a pioneer of research in animal cognition
for decades, and is recognized as one of the leading behavioural ecologists of
the twentieth century. With this new edition of his classic
book, which he has completely revised and updated, Griffin moves beyond considerations
of animal cognition to argue that scientists can and should investigate questions
of animal consciousness. Using examples from studies of species ranging from chimpanzees
and dolphins to birds and honeybees, he demonstrates how communication among animals
can serve as a "window" into what animals think and feel, just as human
speech and nonverbal communication tell us most of what we know about the thoughts
and feelings of other people. Even when they don't communicate with one another,
animals respond with sometimes surprising versatility to new situations for which
neither their genes nor their previous experiences have prepared them, and Griffin
discusses what these behaviors can tell us about animal minds. He also reviews
the latest research in cognitive neuroscience, which has revealed startling similarities
in the neural mechanisms underlying brain functioning in both humans and other
animals. Finally, in four chapters greatly expanded for this edition, Griffin
considers the latest scientific research on animal consciousness, pro and con,
and explores its profound philosophical and ethical implications. Donald
R. Griffin has been a professor at Cornell, Harvard, and Rockefeller Universities,
and is now an associate of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. His many
books include The Question of Animal Awareness, Animal Thinking,
Listening in the Dark, Echoes of Bats and Men, Animal Structure
and Function, and Bird Migration. |
