Animal thought, recent work on

In recent years there has been a good deal of experimental work on the question of animal cognition, much of it modelled on recent experiments in infant cognition. Indeed, current research suggests that the distinction between the mental capacities of humans and many animals is far subtler and more difficult to determine than traditionally has been supposed. A promising proposal is that, although humans and animals share a surprising number of basic concepts and categories, only humans have the capacity to deal with them recursively.

Throughout this entry ‘animal’ and ‘primate’ will be understood as prefixed with ‘non-human’.