Mental states in animals: cognitive ethology

Abstract

This article addresses the question of mental states in animals as viewed in 'cognitive ethology'. In effect, this field of research aims at studying naturally occurring behaviours such as food caching, individual recognition, imitation, tool use and communication in wild animals, in order to seek for evidence of mental experiences, self-awareness and intentionality. Cognitive ethologists use some philosophical concepts (e.g., the 'intentional stance') to carry out their programme of the investigation of natural behaviours. A comparison between cognitive ethology and other approaches to the investigation of cognitive processes in animals (e.g., experimental animal psychology) helps to point out the strengths and weaknesses of cognitive ethology. Moreover, laboratory attempts to analyse experimentally intentional behaviours such as deception, the relationship between seeing and knowing, as well as the ability of animals to monitor their own states of knowing, suggest that cognitive ethology could benefit significantly from the conceptual frameworks and methods of animal cognitive psychology. Both disciplines could, in fact, contribute to the understanding of which cognitive abilities are evolutionary adaptations.