Cited by 115Philosophy and Theoretical ScienceChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentPrimate Behavior and Ecology

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Self-awareness in animals

DeGrazia, David·2009·The Philosophy of Animal Minds

DOI 10.1017/cbo9780511819001.012

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This chapter claims that the cumulative force of various empirical data and conceptual considerations makes it more reasonable to accept than to deny that many animals are self-aware. It considers studies focusing on animals' preferences. In the philosophy of mind, desires and beliefs are classified as propositional attitudes, mental states that take propositions or sentences as their objects. Desires to do certain things and intentional actions that involve doing them suggest at least some rudimentary awareness of oneself as persisting through time. Strengthening the case for intentional action, and therefore for bodily self-awareness, is evidence of more sophisticated behaviors in animals involving planning, complex problem-solving, and/or tool use. Like intentional action involving a plan, fear requires some awareness that one will continue into the future. Since Gordon Gallup's pioneering experiments, self-recognition with mirrors has often been cited as evidence of self-awareness in animals.

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Epigraph
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Introduction
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Authors: DeGrazia, D.
Affiliations: George Washington University (US)
Corresponding author: DeGrazia, David
ORCID: DeGrazia, David
Venue: The Philosophy of Animal Minds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2009-09-03
Pages: 201-217
DOI: 10.1017/cbo9780511819001.012
OpenAlex: W1630360875
Cited by: 115
References: 0
Citations by year: 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 1
FWCI: 6.21
Type: book chapter
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 1006 d)
Locations: Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords: animal self-awareness, mirror self-recognition, propositional attitudes, intentional action, body awareness, animal preferences, animal cognition, tool use, problem solving, fear, persistence of the self

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Self-awareness in animals

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