ABSTRACT
Let me begin with an evolutionary fable, one which I will develop further in the last chapter. Our remote ancestors were ape-like hominids. But they could predict what others wanted and intended. My pet cat can do as much. She can tell whether I am going to sit in an easy chair where she can sit on my lap or whether I am going into the garden. She has beliefs about what I will do. If mammals with less complex patterns of behaviour can predict what another mammal will do then evidently one hominid could tell to some extent what another would do. Like my cat their behaviour incorporates the beliefs which they have about their fellows. I shall say more about ‘incorporates’ in chapter three. For the moment consider that if a mammal displays fear then another mammal can predict what it would do if attacked. Furthermore we can say that the fear involves the belief that the animal is in some way threatened. We can say this without wanting to say that the animal is able to describe the object of its own fear. There is no problem about accrediting complex mammals with beliefs as displayed in their actions.
