Reflections on animal selves - PubMed

Reflections on animal selves

Marc Bekoff et al. Trends Ecol Evol. 2004 Apr.

Abstract

Is self-cognizance a uniquely human attribute, or do other animals also have a sense of self? Although there is considerable interest in this question, answers remain elusive. Progress has been stymied by misunderstandings in terminology, a focus on a narrow range of species, and controversies over key concepts, experimental paradigms and interpretations of data. Here, we propose a new conceptual and terminological framework, emphasizing that degrees of self-cognizance differ among animals because of the cognitive demands that their species-specific social structures and life-history characteristics have placed upon them over evolutionary time. We suggest that the self-cognizance of an organism falls at a point on a continuum of social complexity and conscious involvement.

Comment in

• Monkeys, mirrors, mark tests and minds.

  Platek SM, Levin SL. Platek SM, et al. Trends Ecol Evol. 2004 Aug;19(8):406-7; author reply 407-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2004.06.008. Trends Ecol Evol. 2004. PMID: 16701296 No abstract available.

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