Animal Minds (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Mental experiences are real and important to us, and insofar as they occur in nonhuman animals they must be important to them as well..." (more)
Key Phrases: inclusive behaviorists, recruiting gestures, suggests conscious thinking, Great Apes, Clever Hans, Yerkes Laboratory (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1945, Donald Griffin was one of the codiscoverers of echolocation by bats. In the 1980s he became a leader of cognitive ethnology--the study of animals' thinking behavior--"forging a path where others fear to tread or cannot see a way," in the words of Gerald Durrell. Animal Minds is Griffin's most strongly argued summary of the evidence for cognition from every corner of the animal kingdom. This is a manifesto that "cognitive ethology presents us with one of the supreme scientific challenges of our times," and is required reading for anyone interested in the nature and distribution of minds.

From Publishers Weekly

Vervet monkeys use special calls to mislead their neighbors. Beavers plug up leaks in dams, cutting pieces of wood to fit a particular hole. Honeybees employ symbolic gestures to communicate the direction and distance their sisters must fly to reach food. These are just a few of the striking examples of versatile animal behavior which, to Harvard zoologist Griffin ( Animal Thinking ), suggest that animals are cognizant of objects and events and experience conscious thoughts. In an involving, important, scholarly report that should force a reconsideration of animal studies, Griffin reviews animals' remarkable adaptability to novel challenges and their apparent ability to communicate thoughts to others. Drawing on a wealth of published research, he infers manipulative behavior in apes and foxes, fear in mantis shrimp, deception in fireflies and dreams in sleeping birds. This well-documented, understated argument presents a challenge to the reductionism of many behaviorists and cognitive psychologists.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226308642
• ISBN-13: 978-0226308647
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #998,563 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unsophisticated interpretation of important evidence, June 13, 2000

By	Andrew N. Carpenter "philosopher" (Westminster, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Griffin, one of the founding fathers of cognitive ethology, summarizes the best scientific evidence that animals have a rich mental life that involves thought, intentionality, and consciousness. He focuses on three phenomena: the versatility and adaptiveness of animal behavior, nervous system physiology, and animal communication. To his credit, Griffin is not dogmatic; he admits that much scientific work remains before any of the evidence can be considered significant, and he is willing to consider interpretations of the data that reject his own views on animal minds.

In the end, unfortunately, Griffin's impassioned claims about behavior that "indicates" complex thought don't go far enough. The book consists of relatively undetailed reports of animal studies. He provides little detail about scientific methodology and does not develop an adequate theoretical framework for a deep understanding animal mentality. He has no clear methodology for interpreting the strength of the data he summarizes, and consistently conflates important distinctions between perception, consciousness, and self-consciousness. Although Griffin champions an interdisciplinary approach to solving problems of mind, he pays little heed to the many philospohical problems with understanding crucial mental concepts.

Committed defenders of animal minds will enjoy this general retrospective by one of their intellectual heroes. Readers who want a deeper exploration must turn elsewhere -- Collen Allen and Marc Bekoff's *Species of Mind* would be an excellent starting point.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed it., August 11, 2003

By	Psycho Hedgehog (Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Animal Minds (Hardcover)

I recently read this book for a class, and found it very readable. Granted, it doesn't go as far into interpretations of what all of this means, and more leaves that up to the reader. Try the book Animal Consciousness by Daise and Michael Radner if you want to go more into the philosophical, and not a run through of animal behavior. It will also help you, in addition to this book, come to your own informed conclusions about the reality of animal consciousness and thought.

5 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a dry, scientific text, August 25, 1999

By A Customer

This isn't a book geared toward the general population. The material is well-documented, but not written in a way that captures the readers' attention. It is very dry.