- The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Animal Rights
- Animals in Political Theory
- Animals as Living Property
- The Human-Animal Bond
- Animal Sheltering
- Roaming Dogs
- Misothery: Contempt for Animals and Nature, Its Origins, Purposes, and Repercussions
- Continental Approaches to Animals and Animality
- Animals as Legal Subjects
- The Struggle for Compassion and Justice through Critical Animal Studies
- Interspecies Dialogue and Animal Ethics: The Feminist Care Perspective
- Cetacean Cognition
- History and Animal Agencies
- What Was It Like to Be a Cow?: History and Animal Studies
- Animals as Sentient Commodities
- Animal Work
- Animals as Reflexive Thinkers: The Aponoian Paradigm
- The Ethics of Animal Research: Theory and Practice
- The Ethics of Food Animal Production
- Animals as Scientific Objects
- The Problem with Zoos
- Wolf Hunting and the Ethics of Predator Control
- Practice and Ethics of the Use of Animals in Contemporary Art
- Animals in Folklore
- Archaeozoology
- Animals and Ecological Science
- Staging Privilege, Proximity, and “Extreme Animal Tourism”
- Commensal Species
- Lively Cities: People, Animals, and Urban Ecosystems
- Animals in Religion
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
The ability to engage in reflexive thought—in thought about thought or about other mental states more generally—is regarded as a complex intellectual achievement that is beyond the capacities of most nonhuman animals. To the extent that reflexive thought capacities are believed necessary for the possession of many other psychological states or capacities, including consciousness, belief, emotion, and empathy, the inability of animals to engage in reflexive thought calls into question their other psychological abilities. This chapter attacks the idea that reflexive thought is required in this pervasive way and holds that supposing that it is derives from a tendency among philosophers and scientists toward overcomplication. Against this tendency, it recommends an aponoian framework, from apó, “away from” and noûs, “intelligence” or “thought,” arguing that seemingly complex psychological abilities are often not as complex as they seem, and do not require the ability to engage in reflexive thought.
Keywords: animal studies, animals, belief, consciousness, emotion, empathy, reflexive thought
Mark Rowlands College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Philosophy, University of Miami, USA
Susana Monsó is in the Department of Logic, History and Philosophy of Science, UNED, Spain
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- The Oxford Handbook of Animal Studies
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- Introduction
- Animal Rights
- Animals in Political Theory
- Animals as Living Property
- The Human-Animal Bond
- Animal Sheltering
- Roaming Dogs
- Misothery: Contempt for Animals and Nature, Its Origins, Purposes, and Repercussions
- Continental Approaches to Animals and Animality
- Animals as Legal Subjects
- The Struggle for Compassion and Justice through Critical Animal Studies
- Interspecies Dialogue and Animal Ethics: The Feminist Care Perspective
- Cetacean Cognition
- History and Animal Agencies
- What Was It Like to Be a Cow?: History and Animal Studies
- Animals as Sentient Commodities
- Animal Work
- Animals as Reflexive Thinkers: The Aponoian Paradigm
- The Ethics of Animal Research: Theory and Practice
- The Ethics of Food Animal Production
- Animals as Scientific Objects
- The Problem with Zoos
- Wolf Hunting and the Ethics of Predator Control
- Practice and Ethics of the Use of Animals in Contemporary Art
- Animals in Folklore
- Archaeozoology
- Animals and Ecological Science
- Staging Privilege, Proximity, and “Extreme Animal Tourism”
- Commensal Species
- Lively Cities: People, Animals, and Urban Ecosystems
- Animals in Religion
- Index
