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Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness
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 at the forefront of researc...more
Hardcover, 376 pages
Published
May 1st 2001
by University of Chicago Press
(first published 1992)
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Revised edition. An argument in favor of the idea that consciousness in some form may be present throughout the animal kingdom.
As I read this book, I found myself very frustrated by it. The one huge problem that permeates it is the refusal to come to grips, even provisionally, with what is consciousness in the first place. To be sure, this is an issue no one has settled yet. But Griffin writes in accordance with this quote from Francis Crick: "Everyone has a rough idea of what i...more
As I read this book, I found myself very frustrated by it. The one huge problem that permeates it is the refusal to come to grips, even provisionally, with what is consciousness in the first place. To be sure, this is an issue no one has settled yet. But Griffin writes in accordance with this quote from Francis Crick: "Everyone has a rough idea of what i...more
Don Griffin is a gentle man and inquisitive scientist, who, I believe, tried to explore the notion of animal cognition through naturalistic observations during a period of time where being called anthropomorphic was a fate worse than being stripped of tenure, for some. This is a book of tales about animal behavior that lead to questions about animal cognition. Griffin does not necessarily have the answers (and no-one does), but it is thought-provoking.
This book was really interesting and held my attention about 3/4 of the way through and then got repetitive and boring. I couldn't finish it. I'm hoping to pick it up again one of these days but right now I can't handle the dry research info. It's about animal consciousness and I loved the parts of the book talking about some of the amazing stories of animals doing things unexplained by anything other than thinking conscious thoughts but got bored later with the more theoretical and specific par...more
this book touched base alot on the animal mind and the very strong connection between their intelleigence and their behavior. this book opened my eyes to considering behavior as an important variable when thinking about the intellectual ability and capacity of an animal. After reading this book i realized there was alot more to the animal mind than i had originally had thought. there is alot about animal emotions linked to an animal's behavior and the link and effect one has on another.
An interesting book that discussed the various cognitive ability of animals. From consciousness to intelligence, this book gathers information on variousresearches that has been done on animals. He usse by famous examples of animals such as Alex the Gray African parrot. it is a wonderful book that summaries the current development of animal intelligence and emotions. Worth reading.
This is one of the first books to openly challenge what for years had been a dogmatic, deeply entrenched idea in cognitive science: that humans are the only animals whose mental experiences can be classified as 'consciousness'. Griffin put out this revised, updated edition of the original book just before he died, and it's a great read for anyone interested in animal consciousness.
Daphne
marked it as to-read
I have to read this for class. The book is essentially interesting. However, this guy thinks that the way to get his point across is to put down everyone who has a dissenting opinion.
Julia Flook
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Donald R. Griffin, 88, Dies; Argued Animals Can Think
By CAROL KAESUK YOON
Published: Friday, November 14, 2003
Dr. Donald R. Griffin, who was considered the founder of the modern field involving the study of animal thinking and consciousness, and who early in his career helped unravel the secret of bats' navigation system, died last Friday in Lexington, Mass. He was 88.
...more
More about Donald R. Griffin...
By CAROL KAESUK YOON
Published: Friday, November 14, 2003
Dr. Donald R. Griffin, who was considered the founder of the modern field involving the study of animal thinking and consciousness, and who early in his career helped unravel the secret of bats' navigation system, died last Friday in Lexington, Mass. He was 88.
...more
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