Rosemary Rodd
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240525
- eISBN:
- 9780191680199
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240525.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter argues that animal communication studies are relevant to the consideration of their moral status. Some animal rights critics have based their claims upon the proposal that human ...
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This chapter argues that animal communication studies are relevant to the consideration of their moral status. Some animal rights critics have based their claims upon the proposal that human consciousness stems from our linguistic ability. Frey does not deny the possibility of animal consciousness but claims that language is essential for the possession of interests, without which rights cannot be possible. The idea of animal communication adds some weight to the belief that they can have rights and it may be of help in discovering what their interests are. This chapter lists four systems of communication which can be used by any organism — humans or animals. It also lists four basic approaches to teaching chimpanzees, orang-utans, and gorillas to use modified form of human language. The evidence that apes do possess a level of intelligence necessary for language is also discussed in this chapter.Less
This chapter argues that animal communication studies are relevant to the consideration of their moral status. Some animal rights critics have based their claims upon the proposal that human consciousness stems from our linguistic ability. Frey does not deny the possibility of animal consciousness but claims that language is essential for the possession of interests, without which rights cannot be possible. The idea of animal communication adds some weight to the belief that they can have rights and it may be of help in discovering what their interests are. This chapter lists four systems of communication which can be used by any organism — humans or animals. It also lists four basic approaches to teaching chimpanzees, orang-utans, and gorillas to use modified form of human language. The evidence that apes do possess a level of intelligence necessary for language is also discussed in this chapter.
Brandon C. Wheeler, William A. Searcy, Morten H. Christiansen, Michael C. Corballis, Julia Fischer, Christoph Grüter, Daniel Margoliash, Michael J. Owren, Tabitha Price, Robert Seyfarth, and Markus Wild
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0013
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter reviews what has been learned about animal thinking from the study of animal communication and considers what we might hope to learn in the future. It begins with a discussion on the ...
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This chapter reviews what has been learned about animal thinking from the study of animal communication and considers what we might hope to learn in the future. It begins with a discussion on the importance of informational versus non-informational interpretations of animal communication and then considers what inferences can be drawn about the cognitive requirements of communication from the communicative abilities of simple organisms. It discusses the importance of context to the meaning of animal signals and the possibility of asymmetries in the neural processes underlying production versus reception. Current theories on the evolution of human language are reviewed and how the study of animal communication informs these theories.Less
This chapter reviews what has been learned about animal thinking from the study of animal communication and considers what we might hope to learn in the future. It begins with a discussion on the importance of informational versus non-informational interpretations of animal communication and then considers what inferences can be drawn about the cognitive requirements of communication from the communicative abilities of simple organisms. It discusses the importance of context to the meaning of animal signals and the possibility of asymmetries in the neural processes underlying production versus reception. Current theories on the evolution of human language are reviewed and how the study of animal communication informs these theories.
H. Martin Schaefer and Graeme D. Ruxton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199563609
- eISBN:
- 9780191810060
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199563609.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
This chapter discusses the complex communication of plants and animals. The co-evolutionary dynamics of this communication happens when the colour vision, and the senses that animals rely upon most ...
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This chapter discusses the complex communication of plants and animals. The co-evolutionary dynamics of this communication happens when the colour vision, and the senses that animals rely upon most for evaluating distant environment, evolved as an adaptation to locate colourful fruits against a predominantly green background. These dynamics further result in fine-tuned communication as plants provide energy rewards that provoke the sensory systems of mutualistic animals. The chapter also presents the connection between the plant–animal communications, and the communication theory. It concludes that studying plant–animal communication can be used as a model to advance the study of evolution of complex communication networks. The evolutionary significance of complex interactions for communication is also given some explanations.Less
This chapter discusses the complex communication of plants and animals. The co-evolutionary dynamics of this communication happens when the colour vision, and the senses that animals rely upon most for evaluating distant environment, evolved as an adaptation to locate colourful fruits against a predominantly green background. These dynamics further result in fine-tuned communication as plants provide energy rewards that provoke the sensory systems of mutualistic animals. The chapter also presents the connection between the plant–animal communications, and the communication theory. It concludes that studying plant–animal communication can be used as a model to advance the study of evolution of complex communication networks. The evolutionary significance of complex interactions for communication is also given some explanations.
Julia Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Communication is a central topic in animal behavior studies and yet the dispute over what constitutes communication is far from settled. This chapter provides an integrative framework that views ...
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Communication is a central topic in animal behavior studies and yet the dispute over what constitutes communication is far from settled. This chapter provides an integrative framework that views communication, in its elementary form, as an interaction between two individuals (sender and receiver) involving the use of signals by the sender as well as the processing of and responses to those signals by the receiver. This framework defends the concept of information but rejects the notion that senders are generally selected to “provide” information and that information is “encoded” within a signal. The notion that animals process information creates a bridge from studies of communication to those assessing the cognitive underpinnings of communicative behavior.Less
Communication is a central topic in animal behavior studies and yet the dispute over what constitutes communication is far from settled. This chapter provides an integrative framework that views communication, in its elementary form, as an interaction between two individuals (sender and receiver) involving the use of signals by the sender as well as the processing of and responses to those signals by the receiver. This framework defends the concept of information but rejects the notion that senders are generally selected to “provide” information and that information is “encoded” within a signal. The notion that animals process information creates a bridge from studies of communication to those assessing the cognitive underpinnings of communicative behavior.
Randolf Menzel and Julia Fischer (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Do animals have cognitive maps? Do they possess knowledge? Do they plan for the future? Do they understand that others have mental lives of their own? This volume provides a state-of-the-art ...
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Do animals have cognitive maps? Do they possess knowledge? Do they plan for the future? Do they understand that others have mental lives of their own? This volume provides a state-of-the-art assessment of animal cognition, with experts from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ecology, and evolutionary biology addressing these questions in an integrative fashion. It summarizes the latest research, identifies areas where consensus has been reached, and takes on current controversies. Over the last thirty years, the field has shifted from the collection of anecdotes and the pursuit of the subjective experience of animals to a rigorous, hypothesis-driven experimental approach. Taking a skeptical stance, this volume stresses the notion that in many cases relatively simple rules may account for rather complex and flexible behaviors. The book critically evaluates current concepts and puts a strong focus on the psychological mechanisms that underpin animal behavior. It offers comparative analyses that reveal common principles as well as adaptations that evolved in particular species in response to specific selective pressures. It assesses experimental approaches to the study of animal navigation, decision making, social cognition, and communication and suggests directions for future research. The book promotes a research program that seeks to understand animals’ cognitive abilities and behavioral routines as individuals and as members of social groups.Less
Do animals have cognitive maps? Do they possess knowledge? Do they plan for the future? Do they understand that others have mental lives of their own? This volume provides a state-of-the-art assessment of animal cognition, with experts from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, ecology, and evolutionary biology addressing these questions in an integrative fashion. It summarizes the latest research, identifies areas where consensus has been reached, and takes on current controversies. Over the last thirty years, the field has shifted from the collection of anecdotes and the pursuit of the subjective experience of animals to a rigorous, hypothesis-driven experimental approach. Taking a skeptical stance, this volume stresses the notion that in many cases relatively simple rules may account for rather complex and flexible behaviors. The book critically evaluates current concepts and puts a strong focus on the psychological mechanisms that underpin animal behavior. It offers comparative analyses that reveal common principles as well as adaptations that evolved in particular species in response to specific selective pressures. It assesses experimental approaches to the study of animal navigation, decision making, social cognition, and communication and suggests directions for future research. The book promotes a research program that seeks to understand animals’ cognitive abilities and behavioral routines as individuals and as members of social groups.
Sergio Balari and Guillermo Lorenzo
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199665464
- eISBN:
- 9780191746116
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199665464.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Linguistic theory has been traditionally (but uncritically) committed to an approach that sees language as a particular instance of a larger class of systems of communication. Within a biolinguistic ...
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Linguistic theory has been traditionally (but uncritically) committed to an approach that sees language as a particular instance of a larger class of systems of communication. Within a biolinguistic perspective, this position translates into the contention that language is a particular “animal communication system,” a natural kind comprising an extremely heterogeneous set of behaviors based on the externalization/exchange of signals between organisms. Putting aside some other previous criticisms concerning this tenet, the book's main objection is that this approach drives the evolutionary study of language to a dead end, because the concept of “animal communication system” does not refer to a true natural kind and thus no substantial evolutionary generalizations can be based on it.Less
Linguistic theory has been traditionally (but uncritically) committed to an approach that sees language as a particular instance of a larger class of systems of communication. Within a biolinguistic perspective, this position translates into the contention that language is a particular “animal communication system,” a natural kind comprising an extremely heterogeneous set of behaviors based on the externalization/exchange of signals between organisms. Putting aside some other previous criticisms concerning this tenet, the book's main objection is that this approach drives the evolutionary study of language to a dead end, because the concept of “animal communication system” does not refer to a true natural kind and thus no substantial evolutionary generalizations can be based on it.
Randolf Menzel and Julia Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Since the advent of the cognitive revolution in the 1960s, animals have been viewed as goal-seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of ...
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Since the advent of the cognitive revolution in the 1960s, animals have been viewed as goal-seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of cognitive complexity. This paved the way for an immensely productive research program. While this field benefited from insights into the proximate causes of animal behavior, awareness grew of the importance of taking a species’ evolutionary history and ecological adaptation into account, an insight which led to a multitude of field studies with a large range of animal species. Studies in the field and lab are now performed in concert to compensate for their respective limitations. It is this combined approach which makes current cognitive behavioral studies so rich. This identifies key questions at the frontier of present research and discusses how these questions can be translated into experiments and observations.Less
Since the advent of the cognitive revolution in the 1960s, animals have been viewed as goal-seeking agents that acquire, store, retrieve, and internally process information at many levels of cognitive complexity. This paved the way for an immensely productive research program. While this field benefited from insights into the proximate causes of animal behavior, awareness grew of the importance of taking a species’ evolutionary history and ecological adaptation into account, an insight which led to a multitude of field studies with a large range of animal species. Studies in the field and lab are now performed in concert to compensate for their respective limitations. It is this combined approach which makes current cognitive behavioral studies so rich. This identifies key questions at the frontier of present research and discusses how these questions can be translated into experiments and observations.
H. Martin Schaefer and Graeme D. Ruxton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199563609
- eISBN:
- 9780191810060
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199563609.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
This chapter focuses on sensory systems of animals that are commonly involved in plant–animal communication. Animals perceive the world around them quite differently from humans. The spectral ...
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This chapter focuses on sensory systems of animals that are commonly involved in plant–animal communication. Animals perceive the world around them quite differently from humans. The spectral sensitivities to light reflected from objects around humans are different from those of most other animal groups. For example, birds and primates can discriminate flowers and fruits from their background by their colours over a range of tens of metres while insects can use the chromatic information of flowers only on a range of centimetres. Humans, however, perceive the smell of plants within a range of tens of metres. Perceptual differences among animals exist in all sensory modes. This chapter explains the ecological sensory differences of animals and the ways in which these senses are used to interact with the biochemistry of plants.Less
This chapter focuses on sensory systems of animals that are commonly involved in plant–animal communication. Animals perceive the world around them quite differently from humans. The spectral sensitivities to light reflected from objects around humans are different from those of most other animal groups. For example, birds and primates can discriminate flowers and fruits from their background by their colours over a range of tens of metres while insects can use the chromatic information of flowers only on a range of centimetres. Humans, however, perceive the smell of plants within a range of tens of metres. Perceptual differences among animals exist in all sensory modes. This chapter explains the ecological sensory differences of animals and the ways in which these senses are used to interact with the biochemistry of plants.
Arie Verhagen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199226702
- eISBN:
- 9780191706646
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226702.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter argues that solving small grammatical puzzles involves some fundamental decisions on basic assumptions about human language and especially meaning. The work shows that the fact that a ...
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This chapter argues that solving small grammatical puzzles involves some fundamental decisions on basic assumptions about human language and especially meaning. The work shows that the fact that a particular general view makes it possible to solve a number of more and less classic specific grammatical problems constitutes evidence for the usefulness of this general view. The chapter also describes major theoretical issues on human specialization, common ground and the construal configuration, human and animal communication, and the theory of argumentativity. The roles of argumentation and auxiliary syntax in the balance between objectivity and intersubjectivity are illustrated in Dutch and English. The prospects of adopting a usage-based, constructional approach to grammar are explained.Less
This chapter argues that solving small grammatical puzzles involves some fundamental decisions on basic assumptions about human language and especially meaning. The work shows that the fact that a particular general view makes it possible to solve a number of more and less classic specific grammatical problems constitutes evidence for the usefulness of this general view. The chapter also describes major theoretical issues on human specialization, common ground and the construal configuration, human and animal communication, and the theory of argumentativity. The roles of argumentation and auxiliary syntax in the balance between objectivity and intersubjectivity are illustrated in Dutch and English. The prospects of adopting a usage-based, constructional approach to grammar are explained.
Randolf Menzel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0002
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Honeybees navigate and communicate in the context of foraging and nest selection. This chapter presents a novel technique (harmonic radar tracking) that has been applied to foraging behavior. On the ...
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Honeybees navigate and communicate in the context of foraging and nest selection. This chapter presents a novel technique (harmonic radar tracking) that has been applied to foraging behavior. On the basis of the data collected, a concept that assumes an integrated map-like structure of spatial memory has been developed. Characteristic features (long-ranging landmarks) and local characteristics are learned during exploratory flights. Route flights and information about target destinations transferred during the waggle dance are integrated into the map-like memory, enabling bees to make novel short-cutting flights between learned and communicated locations and to perform decisions about their flight routes. Cognitive terminology is applied to describe these implicit knowledge properties in bee navigation.Less
Honeybees navigate and communicate in the context of foraging and nest selection. This chapter presents a novel technique (harmonic radar tracking) that has been applied to foraging behavior. On the basis of the data collected, a concept that assumes an integrated map-like structure of spatial memory has been developed. Characteristic features (long-ranging landmarks) and local characteristics are learned during exploratory flights. Route flights and information about target destinations transferred during the waggle dance are integrated into the map-like memory, enabling bees to make novel short-cutting flights between learned and communicated locations and to perform decisions about their flight routes. Cognitive terminology is applied to describe these implicit knowledge properties in bee navigation.
Christoph Grüter
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262016636
- eISBN:
- 9780262298988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016636.003.0011
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Collective intelligence allows groups of individuals to solve problems which otherwise could not be solved by a single individual. Insect workers have tiny brains, but by functioning as part of a ...
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Collective intelligence allows groups of individuals to solve problems which otherwise could not be solved by a single individual. Insect workers have tiny brains, but by functioning as part of a self-organized colony, they find sophisticated solutions to vital organizational problems (e.g., finding a suitable new home or exploiting the best food sources in a changing environment). In consensus decision making, unanimity among workers is crucial. In contrast, combined decision making requires that different groups of workers within the colony choose different options. Communication and learning are often fundamental in collective decision making. However, as workers gain experience, communication may lose importance as an information source for workers. How social insects collectively solve problems parallels decision making in other biological systems (e.g., neuronal networks), and investigation into social insect collective decision making has inspired new solutions to optimization problems in areas such as computer sciences and the organization of communication networks.Less
Collective intelligence allows groups of individuals to solve problems which otherwise could not be solved by a single individual. Insect workers have tiny brains, but by functioning as part of a self-organized colony, they find sophisticated solutions to vital organizational problems (e.g., finding a suitable new home or exploiting the best food sources in a changing environment). In consensus decision making, unanimity among workers is crucial. In contrast, combined decision making requires that different groups of workers within the colony choose different options. Communication and learning are often fundamental in collective decision making. However, as workers gain experience, communication may lose importance as an information source for workers. How social insects collectively solve problems parallels decision making in other biological systems (e.g., neuronal networks), and investigation into social insect collective decision making has inspired new solutions to optimization problems in areas such as computer sciences and the organization of communication networks.
Arie Verhagen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199226702
- eISBN:
- 9780191706646
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226702.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This book shows that the meaning of grammatical constructions often has more to do with the human cognitive capacity for taking other peoples' points of view than with describing the world. Treating ...
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This book shows that the meaning of grammatical constructions often has more to do with the human cognitive capacity for taking other peoples' points of view than with describing the world. Treating pragmatics, semantics, and syntax in parallel and integrating insights from linguistics, psychology, and studies in animal behaviour, the book develops a new understanding of linguistic communication. In doing so it shows the continuity between language and animal communication and reveals the nature of human linguistic specialization. The book uses Dutch and English data from a wide variety of sources and considers the contributions of grammar to the coherence of discourse. It argues that important problems in semantics and syntax may be resolved if language is understood as an instrument for exerting influence and coordinating different perspectives. The grammatical phenomena the book discusses include negative expressions, the let alone construction, complementation constructions, and discourse connectives.Less
This book shows that the meaning of grammatical constructions often has more to do with the human cognitive capacity for taking other peoples' points of view than with describing the world. Treating pragmatics, semantics, and syntax in parallel and integrating insights from linguistics, psychology, and studies in animal behaviour, the book develops a new understanding of linguistic communication. In doing so it shows the continuity between language and animal communication and reveals the nature of human linguistic specialization. The book uses Dutch and English data from a wide variety of sources and considers the contributions of grammar to the coherence of discourse. It argues that important problems in semantics and syntax may be resolved if language is understood as an instrument for exerting influence and coordinating different perspectives. The grammatical phenomena the book discusses include negative expressions, the let alone construction, complementation constructions, and discourse connectives.
Gil G. Rosenthal and Devi Stuart-Fox
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199602568
- eISBN:
- 9780191810121
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199602568.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This chapter describes how human impacts alter animal communication. It addresses the ecological and evolutionary consequences of altered animal communication, and emphasizes on their effects in ...
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This chapter describes how human impacts alter animal communication. It addresses the ecological and evolutionary consequences of altered animal communication, and emphasizes on their effects in animal behaviour. It investigates how animals utilize social signals in performing daily tasks, and examines the influence of anthropogenic communication disturbance regarding survival patterns, change in the magnitude and direction of natural and sexual selection, and impingement of basic evolutionary processes like reproductive isolation and hybridization. It looks into some of the processes of disturbance that reduces the efficacy of communication such as weakening the signal production, distorting or attenuating signals as they travel to the receiver, or hampering perception. It also highlights certain environmental changes that can modify distribution of signals.Less
This chapter describes how human impacts alter animal communication. It addresses the ecological and evolutionary consequences of altered animal communication, and emphasizes on their effects in animal behaviour. It investigates how animals utilize social signals in performing daily tasks, and examines the influence of anthropogenic communication disturbance regarding survival patterns, change in the magnitude and direction of natural and sexual selection, and impingement of basic evolutionary processes like reproductive isolation and hybridization. It looks into some of the processes of disturbance that reduces the efficacy of communication such as weakening the signal production, distorting or attenuating signals as they travel to the receiver, or hampering perception. It also highlights certain environmental changes that can modify distribution of signals.
Louise Westling
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823255658
- eISBN:
- 9780823261208
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823255658.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
This chapter addresses the place of language and literature in Merleau-Ponty’s thought, setting it within the context of evolutionary continuity in animal life and communicative activities throughout ...
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This chapter addresses the place of language and literature in Merleau-Ponty’s thought, setting it within the context of evolutionary continuity in animal life and communicative activities throughout the biosphere. Examining his description of the gestural origins of speech in Phenomenology of Perception and his account of infant entry into language in Consciousness and the Acquisition of Language, the chapter links his theory of the embodied quality of linguistic behavior with the cognitive and communicative activities of other animals, especially apes. It goes on to show how this work is related to Philip Lieberman’s work in the cognitive neuroscience of language evolution and behavior, and also the new interdisciplinary field of biosemiotics. Concluding with an account of Merleau-Ponty’s description of literature and the other arts as the human voicing of immanent meanings in the world, the chapter ends with a reading of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi that dramatizes the interdependency and uneasy communication among living creatures that must coexist but also kill and eat each other.Less
This chapter addresses the place of language and literature in Merleau-Ponty’s thought, setting it within the context of evolutionary continuity in animal life and communicative activities throughout the biosphere. Examining his description of the gestural origins of speech in Phenomenology of Perception and his account of infant entry into language in Consciousness and the Acquisition of Language, the chapter links his theory of the embodied quality of linguistic behavior with the cognitive and communicative activities of other animals, especially apes. It goes on to show how this work is related to Philip Lieberman’s work in the cognitive neuroscience of language evolution and behavior, and also the new interdisciplinary field of biosemiotics. Concluding with an account of Merleau-Ponty’s description of literature and the other arts as the human voicing of immanent meanings in the world, the chapter ends with a reading of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi that dramatizes the interdependency and uneasy communication among living creatures that must coexist but also kill and eat each other.
Ivan Kreilkamp
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780226576237
- eISBN:
- 9780226576404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226576404.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
In the late nineteenth century, we begin to see a new representational concern with the problem of animal signification – manifesting itself in a special focus on the animal track, trace, or marking ...
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In the late nineteenth century, we begin to see a new representational concern with the problem of animal signification – manifesting itself in a special focus on the animal track, trace, or marking as a form of legible signification. If we turn to fiction of this period, we can see a new interest in animal signification that can be understood in relation to Charles Darwin and Charles Sanders Peirce’s investigations into nonhuman semiotics. Considering a lecture by Thomas Huxley, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Priory School” and The Hound of the Baskervilles, and several Thomas Hardy novels, this chapter argues that Hardy can be understood as trying to create a novelistic form that might more satisfactorily transcribe nonhuman agency or sign-making – recognizing it as signification – while still respecting or acknowledging its difference. This chapter thus demonstrates the ways later-Victorian novelists struggled to find new ways to acknowledge animal agency, consciousness, and even signification within a literary form (the novel) that remained, at the core, anthropocentric.Less
In the late nineteenth century, we begin to see a new representational concern with the problem of animal signification – manifesting itself in a special focus on the animal track, trace, or marking as a form of legible signification. If we turn to fiction of this period, we can see a new interest in animal signification that can be understood in relation to Charles Darwin and Charles Sanders Peirce’s investigations into nonhuman semiotics. Considering a lecture by Thomas Huxley, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Priory School” and The Hound of the Baskervilles, and several Thomas Hardy novels, this chapter argues that Hardy can be understood as trying to create a novelistic form that might more satisfactorily transcribe nonhuman agency or sign-making – recognizing it as signification – while still respecting or acknowledging its difference. This chapter thus demonstrates the ways later-Victorian novelists struggled to find new ways to acknowledge animal agency, consciousness, and even signification within a literary form (the novel) that remained, at the core, anthropocentric.
H. Martin Schaefer and Graeme D. Ruxton
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199563609
- eISBN:
- 9780191810060
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199563609.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
This chapter reviews some issues on plant–animal communication that originate from the integration of ideas across different chapters of this book. This type of communication and its evolution is ...
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This chapter reviews some issues on plant–animal communication that originate from the integration of ideas across different chapters of this book. This type of communication and its evolution is more complex than the traditional binary sender–receiver models; thus, plant–animal communication can be instrumental to advance the concept of communication theory by integrating ecology and multiple species interaction into it. This chapter validates this conclusion by examining the costs and benefits associated with plant–animal communication, and by discussing its fundamental aspects. Adaptations, constraints, and implications of evolutionary communication in multiple species interactions are also outlined by exemplifying different scenarios.Less
This chapter reviews some issues on plant–animal communication that originate from the integration of ideas across different chapters of this book. This type of communication and its evolution is more complex than the traditional binary sender–receiver models; thus, plant–animal communication can be instrumental to advance the concept of communication theory by integrating ecology and multiple species interaction into it. This chapter validates this conclusion by examining the costs and benefits associated with plant–animal communication, and by discussing its fundamental aspects. Adaptations, constraints, and implications of evolutionary communication in multiple species interactions are also outlined by exemplifying different scenarios.
Martine Hausberger, Laurence Henry, Benoît Testé, and Stéphanie Barbu
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262151214
- eISBN:
- 9780262281027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262151214.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter presents evidence from songbirds of evolutionary convergence with certain features of the vocal flexibility found in humans, addresses human communication skills as a reference, and ...
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This chapter presents evidence from songbirds of evolutionary convergence with certain features of the vocal flexibility found in humans, addresses human communication skills as a reference, and analyzes the possible convergences in animal species, highlighting a particular social songbird species. It suggests that animal communication may offer a useful reminder that the evolution of most basic principles of communication rules and contextual sensitivity may not have required higher cognitive processes. The chapter also proposes that regulations of vocal interactions, their contextual sensitivity, and dependency upon social experience indicate further convergence with human communication.Less
This chapter presents evidence from songbirds of evolutionary convergence with certain features of the vocal flexibility found in humans, addresses human communication skills as a reference, and analyzes the possible convergences in animal species, highlighting a particular social songbird species. It suggests that animal communication may offer a useful reminder that the evolution of most basic principles of communication rules and contextual sensitivity may not have required higher cognitive processes. The chapter also proposes that regulations of vocal interactions, their contextual sensitivity, and dependency upon social experience indicate further convergence with human communication.
Ádám Miklósi
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199646661
- eISBN:
- 9780191796302
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646661.003.0012
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This chapter examines communication, cooperation, and play behaviour in dogs. These activities share many aspects of behavioural coordination; in many situations they occur in parallel. Playing dogs ...
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This chapter examines communication, cooperation, and play behaviour in dogs. These activities share many aspects of behavioural coordination; in many situations they occur in parallel. Playing dogs are communicating, and also cooperating in broad sense and cooperation is also unlikely to occur without any communication. All three behavioural manifestations play an important role in dog training that brings in a specific aspect of applied research.Less
This chapter examines communication, cooperation, and play behaviour in dogs. These activities share many aspects of behavioural coordination; in many situations they occur in parallel. Playing dogs are communicating, and also cooperating in broad sense and cooperation is also unlikely to occur without any communication. All three behavioural manifestations play an important role in dog training that brings in a specific aspect of applied research.
Sharon Cameron
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226413907
- eISBN:
- 9780226414232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226414232.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This essay examines Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar in which, through the filmic congruence of animal and human bodies, we are made to rethink the meaningfulness of the distinction that separates ...
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This essay examines Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar in which, through the filmic congruence of animal and human bodies, we are made to rethink the meaningfulness of the distinction that separates animal and human forms of embodiment—specifically, we are asked to rethink the roles of reason and will in making us who we are, a reconception that owes a debt to “Apology for Raymond Sebond.” For Montaigne animal communication, which does not depend on speech or even voice, has a human equivalent in involuntary gesture and posture.Less
This essay examines Bresson’s Au hasard Balthazar in which, through the filmic congruence of animal and human bodies, we are made to rethink the meaningfulness of the distinction that separates animal and human forms of embodiment—specifically, we are asked to rethink the roles of reason and will in making us who we are, a reconception that owes a debt to “Apology for Raymond Sebond.” For Montaigne animal communication, which does not depend on speech or even voice, has a human equivalent in involuntary gesture and posture.
Richard Mcelreath and Robert Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226558264
- eISBN:
- 9780226558288
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226558288.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
The basic premise of game theory is that social life is like a giant game. If this is true, it is also true that life is less like chess and more like poker. In games like chess, information is ...
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The basic premise of game theory is that social life is like a giant game. If this is true, it is also true that life is less like chess and more like poker. In games like chess, information is entirely public. In games like poker, however, there is private information, and access to this information strongly determines the outcomes of contests. Communication is at least as important to animals as it is to card players. There are many kinds of communication. Information can be shared intentionally or accidentally, be inherently unfakeable or strategic. This chapter examines animal communication and animal signals, focusing on repeat play and cheap signaling, altruism, and social learning. First, it presents models in which intentional communication, signals, can affect the outcomes of a game. Second, it considers examples of models in which costly signaling theory is put to the test. Third, it looks at the Sir Philip Sidney game to see how costly signaling theory works. Finally, it considers two-locus genetic models and how to model the evolutionary dynamics of information within a population.Less
The basic premise of game theory is that social life is like a giant game. If this is true, it is also true that life is less like chess and more like poker. In games like chess, information is entirely public. In games like poker, however, there is private information, and access to this information strongly determines the outcomes of contests. Communication is at least as important to animals as it is to card players. There are many kinds of communication. Information can be shared intentionally or accidentally, be inherently unfakeable or strategic. This chapter examines animal communication and animal signals, focusing on repeat play and cheap signaling, altruism, and social learning. First, it presents models in which intentional communication, signals, can affect the outcomes of a game. Second, it considers examples of models in which costly signaling theory is put to the test. Third, it looks at the Sir Philip Sidney game to see how costly signaling theory works. Finally, it considers two-locus genetic models and how to model the evolutionary dynamics of information within a population.
