Anthrozoology of cognition. Matching the differences
Keywords:
Anthropomorphism, cognition, primates, singularity, toolsAbstract
Anthrozoology is understood as the study of the relationship, or the link, human-animal. This link is built upon a discontinuity: the notion that humans and animals are qualitatively different. The construction of our knowledge is mediated by a unique way of perception, processing and representation. We generate and propose maps, to explain ourselves and the others; we use our own cognition to assess the presence or absence of cognitive abilities in other species. We question representations made by others, we order them according to levels and in case they do not fit our map, we simply deny them. Sometimes the maps we use prevent us from orienting ourselves, they are partial and obsolete. One of those elements which started by being exclusively human, somehow, distinctive, but ended up being general is cognition. The analysis of this topic relates to another central argument used in favor of human exceptionality: the use and manufacture of tools. Our proposal is to debate on the value of our own representations as tools, always perfectible, to access to minds of those we classify as non-humans. To finally understand that cognition is an adaptation and human being is exceptional just as other species are. All of them are exceptions because there are no universal or fixed computational rules, and for having evolved, they are specific of particular linkages between individuals and environments.
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