Spring Quarter 2001

Instructor: Dr. George F. Michel,                         Office:  Rm. 507 Byrne Hall,
Mailbox:  Rm. 420 Byrne Hall ,                            Web-site: www.depaul.edu/~gmichel

Office Hours: TTh 12:00-2:00 or by appointment (x 4246)  E-mail: gmichel@condor.depaul.edu

Course Description: "Investigating the Minds of Animals" focuses on how psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, and animal behaviorists try to study the minds of animals. The student examines the cultural, social-historical, and scientific attitudes toward anthropomorphic and anecdotal accounts of the minds of animals. The notion of animal minds will be carefully and systematically examined from the perspective of history, biology, philosophy, psychology, and artificial intelligence.

Reason for Course: People commonly think that animals are psychologically like themselves (anthropomorphism) and they commonly describe what animals do in narratives (anecdotes) that are like those we use to describe and explain human behavior. These anecdotes assign desires, motives, emotions, moods, thoughts, plans, and goals to animals that are just like those we assign to ourselves and others. The purpose of this Focal Point Seminar is to encourage science and non-science majors to examine and evaluate the significance and usefulness of anthropomorphic and anecdotal accounts of the minds of animals.

The history of the scientific study of animal behavior reveals a conflict between those, on the one hand, who describe and explain the animal’s behavior using notions that are characteristic of "common sense" descriptions and explanations of the behavior of humans. On the other hand, there are those who seek to describe and explain animal behavior without the same notions commonly applied to human behavior. Interestingly, a similar conflict is occurring in the study of human behavior. Most human psychological research accepts the common sense or "folk-psychological" descriptions and explanations but tries to define and use them in a more consistent and systematic manner. In contrast, some approaches to human psychological research have proposed that folk-psychology must be replaced completely by a more science based framework.  The reasons for this replacement stems from research that shows that the predictions of human behavior based on folk-psychological notions do not relate to the actual behavior of people.  Therefore, if our common sense or folk-psychological notions about human minds must be replaced because they are not good enough for understanding human behavior, then how can we use anthropomorphic and anecdotal methods (which are based on folk-psychology) for investigating the minds of animals?

Goals of the Course: The course is designed to achieve three goals:

    1.    Convey to the student what it means to question common sense notions about our own behavior and the behavior of other humans and animals.

    2.    Enable the student to understand both the strengths and the limits of the anthropomorphic and anecdotal approaches to the study of animal minds.

    3.    Encourage students to create their own perspective on how animal minds should be investigated.

Course Requirements: To accomplish the goals of the course, each Tuesday the student will provide a written (about two typed pages) account of what they had learned in the previous week of class. This "Tuesday report" is not a summary of what was discussed or read during the previous week but rather an account of those ideas, notions, or bits of information encountered in the readings or discussion with which the student was previously unaware or unfamiliar. Students also will keep a journal (with at least three entries each week) describing any instance in which course readings or discussion played an role in their activities in other courses, conversations with others, or understanding of events reported in the media. On April 27 & 28, students are required to a ttend a conference "Minding the Borders" about animal minds. The conference meets Friday from 6:00pm to 9:00pm in SAC, room 154, and Saturday from 9:00am to 1:00pm and 3:00pm to 7:00pm in SAC, room 161. Students must take notes during each presentation of this conference and then use these notes to construct a paper evaluating how the presentations at the conference helped them understand the problem of investigating animal minds. At the end of the quarter, the student will submit this paper as their final exam. Students will be graded on their contributions to class discussion, their participation in the conference "Minding the Borders", their final exam paper, nine "Tuesday reports" and their journals.

Type of Course: As a Focal Point Seminar, the course is designed to introduce first-year students to the nature and scope of intellectual inquiry at DePaul University. In Focal Point Seminars, students learn about a single topic in depth and then learn to complicate their view of that topic by examining it from the perspectives of different disciplines. Teaching will involve lectures, assigned readings, classroom and small group discussions, individual performance on homework projects, and a final team presentation project. Evaluation of student performance will depend upon qualitative assessment of the student’s classroom discussion and quantitative assessment of the student’s written homework assignments, final exam paper, and journal entries. Although there is a listed bibliography, the assigned readings will be extracted from an edited book of essays, each reflecting the perspective of a different discipline (e.g., psychology, biology, anthropology, philosophy, history, sociology, computer science) concerning the investigation of the minds of animals. Students will learn to read and evaluate challenging text critically and carefully and they will use writing as a means of mastering new ideas and concepts thoroughly and effectively.

Assigned Text:

Mitchell, R.W., Thompson, N.S., & Miles, H.L. (Eds.) Anthropomorphism, anecdotes, and animals. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Course Syllabus

Week                                Topic                                                       Reading from Book

1.                     How can we know the minds of another?                         Tuesday -Essay 2

                                                                                                                Thursday - 3

2.                     Human psychology and animal minds                                 Tues. – Essays 4 & 5

                                                                                                                 Thurs. – 6

3.                     Mental attribution in animals and humans                             Tues. – 7 & 8

                                                                                                                  Thurs. – 9 & 10

4.                     The value of anecdotal information                                       Tues. – 11 & 12

                                                                                                                   Thurs. – 13 & 14

5.                     Identifying intention in animals                                               Tues. – 15

                                                                                                                    Thurs. – 16

6.                     Animal self-consciousness and human desire                          Tues. – 17 & 18

                                                                                                                     Thurs. – 19

7.                     Folk-psychology and animal behavior                                     Tues. – 20 & 21

                                                                                                                      Thurs. – 22

8.                     Skepticism                                                                              Tues. – 23 & 24

                                                                                                                       Thurs. – 25

9.                     Animal language                                                                      Tues. - 26 & 27

                                                                                                                       Thurs. – 28

10.                 Subtle anthropomophism                                                           Tues. – 29

Bibliography:

1. Beckoff, M. & Jamieson, D. (Eds.) (1996). Readings in animal cognition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

This is a collection of essays about animal cognition, individual recognition, choice, vigilance, play and animal minds.

2. Bownds, M.D. (1999). The biology of mind: Origins and structures of mind, brain, and consciousness. Bethesda, MD: Fitzgerald Science press.

This is an essential multi-disciplinary guide to understanding the human brain and unraveling the mysteries of mind and consciousness.

3. Carruthers, P. (1992). The animals issue: Moral theory in practice. NY: Cambridge U Press.

This book provides a philosophically probing discussion of our obligations to other animals and should be required reading for anyone interested in animal rights, regardless of their standpoint. The authors demonstrates why theoretical issues in ethics matter.

4. Deacon, T.W. (1997). The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain. NY: Norton.

This is essential for anyone interested in what makes us human.

5. Donald, M. (1991). Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press.

Humans evolved as cultural symbol using species far more complex than any others.

6. Dukas, R. (Ed.) (1998). Cognitive ecology: The evolutionary ecology of information processing and decision making. Chicago, IL.: University of Chicago Press.

Demonstrates how each species interactions with its natural habitat shapes its cognitive systems.

7. Dusenbery, D.B. (1992). Sensory ecology: How organisms acquire and respond to information. NY: W.H. Freeman & Co.

All organisms must obtain and react appropriately to information in the environment. This book provides detailed information about how organisms acquire and use environmental information.

8. Fraenkel, G.S. & Gunn, D.L. (1961). The orientation of animals: Kineses, taxes, and compass reactions. N.Y.: Dover Publications.

This book has become the most universally accepted guide to understanding how animals orient to their environment.

9. Hughes, H.C. (1999). Sensory Exotica: A world beyond human experience. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

This book explains in very accessible form the anatomical and physiological principles that underlie echolocation, magnetic field orientation, electroreception, and the use of pheromones in animal behavior.

10. Kennedy, J.S. (1992). The new anthropomorphism. N.Y.: Cambridge University Press.

A form of anthropomorphism that is largely non-conscious subtly influences the study of animal behavior. This book provides evidence of the types of mistakes that derive from this anthropomorphic bias.

11. Moss, C.F. & Shettleworth, S.J. (Eds.) (1996). Neuroethological studies of cognitive and perceptual processes. Boulder, CO.: Westview Press, Inc.

Demonstrates how the study of the particular perceptual and cognitive abilities of different species can help create better general theories in psychology, ethology, and neuroscience.

12. Ristau, C.A. (Ed.) (1991). Cognitive Ethology: The minds of other animals. Hilssdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

This book is a series of articles that critically examine whether we can study the minds of other animals.

13. Serpell, J. (Ed.) (1999). The domestic dog: Its evolution, behavior and interactions with people. NY: Cambridge U. Press.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the domestic dog’s natural history and behavior.

14. Shettleworth, S.J. (1998). Cognition, evolution, and behavior. N.Y.: Oxford University Press.

This is a good resource for anyone interested in reading about the many kinds of information that has been acquired about the "mental" capabilities of animals.

15. Sinclair, S. (1985). How animals see: Other visions of our world. N.Y.: Facts on File Publications.

This book demonstrates that very few animals "see" the world in the way that we see it.

16. Slater, P.J.B. (1999). Essentials of animal behavior. NY: Cambridge University Press.

This book introduces the basic principles of animal behavior, behavioral ecology, and comparative psychology with the aid of clear examples.

17. Turner, D.C. & Bateson, P. (Eds.) (2000). The domestic cat: The biology of its behavior, 2^nd edition. NY: Cambridge U. Press

Sorting fact from fiction, this book reveals how cats live and behave in a variety of circumstances that are important to the general public and those in veterinary science.