ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a broad snapshot of the state of the art in the philosophy of animal minds, people's expectation is that it also serves as a useful reference work for more seasoned scholars. It focuses on philosophy of mind to include not just humans, but animals, has several advantages. The book addresses the questions about reasoning, rationality, and metacognition from a variety of perspectives. It describes that animal communication is H. P. Grice's theory of meaning and whether it serves as a useful model for investigating intentional animal communication. Scientists have used fruit flies to study genetics, squid to study action potentials, mice to study learning, and so on. Scientists frequently use the findings from these studies to draw inferences about other animals, including humans.