Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition

The debate on concept possession in animals has moved at a very abstract level, with scant detailed consideration of case studies in animal behaviour. In this paper, we go against this trend by examining a specific prey defence mechanism, thanatosis or death-feigning, in order to determine what it c...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Monso Gil, Susana, Danón, Laura
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Recursos:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Repositorio:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
Idioma:inglés
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Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/32665
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:11 Lógica
72 Filosofía
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spelling Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognitionMonso Gil, SusanaDanón, Laura11 Lógica72 FilosofíaThe debate on concept possession in animals has moved at a very abstract level, with scant detailed consideration of case studies in animal behaviour. In this paper, we go against this trend by examining a specific prey defence mechanism, thanatosis or death-feigning, in order to determine what it can tell us about the minds of the predators it targets. We argue that thanatosis gives us evidence of conceptual abilities in predators. In particular, we defend that the best available explanation for the evolution of thanatosis comes from positing that the predators whose cognition acted as selection pressure and shaped thanatosis displays satisfy the concept possession requirements of distance, inferentiality, aspectuality, generality, and a minimal semantic net. Moreover, we argue that the semantic content of the concept targeted by thanatosis likely corresponds to a minimal concept of death. We end on a methodological note, by showing how the consideration of case studies can help move this philosophical debate forward, while also generating concrete empirical predictions that can be put to the test, thus favouring interdisciplinary collaborations.University of Chicago PressMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)e-Spacio UNED20262026-05-2120242024-11-0820242024-11-08journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/32665reponame:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNEDinstname:Universidad Nacional de Educación a DistanciaInglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.esoai:dnet:espacio_____::a36a34b82cc1e5e880202bbfdd5851a22026-06-06T12:38:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
title Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
spellingShingle Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
Monso Gil, Susana
11 Lógica
72 Filosofía
title_short Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
title_full Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
title_fullStr Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
title_full_unstemmed Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
title_sort Death-feigning, animal concepts, and the use of empirical case studies in animal cognition
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Monso Gil, Susana
Danón, Laura
author Monso Gil, Susana
author_facet Monso Gil, Susana
Danón, Laura
author_role author
author2 Danón, Laura
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
e-Spacio UNED
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv 11 Lógica
72 Filosofía
topic 11 Lógica
72 Filosofía
description The debate on concept possession in animals has moved at a very abstract level, with scant detailed consideration of case studies in animal behaviour. In this paper, we go against this trend by examining a specific prey defence mechanism, thanatosis or death-feigning, in order to determine what it can tell us about the minds of the predators it targets. We argue that thanatosis gives us evidence of conceptual abilities in predators. In particular, we defend that the best available explanation for the evolution of thanatosis comes from positing that the predators whose cognition acted as selection pressure and shaped thanatosis displays satisfy the concept possession requirements of distance, inferentiality, aspectuality, generality, and a minimal semantic net. Moreover, we argue that the semantic content of the concept targeted by thanatosis likely corresponds to a minimal concept of death. We end on a methodological note, by showing how the consideration of case studies can help move this philosophical debate forward, while also generating concrete empirical predictions that can be put to the test, thus favouring interdisciplinary collaborations.
publishDate 2024
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2024
2024-11-08
2024
2024-11-08
2026
2026-05-21
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/32665
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/32665
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.es
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.es
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv University of Chicago Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv University of Chicago Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
instname:Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
instname_str Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
reponame_str e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
collection e-spacio. Repositorio Institucional de la UNED
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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