The Animal Mind

In this volume, James and Carol Gould go in search of the animal mind. Taking a fresh look at the evidence on animal capacities for perception, thought, and language, the Goulds show how scientists attempt to distinguish actions that go beyond the innate or automatically learned. They provide captivating, beautifully-illustrated descriptions of a number of clever and curious animal behaviors - some revealed to be more or less preprogrammed, some seemingly proof of a well-developed mental life. The Goulds conclude by examining what animal consciousness studies have revealed about one species in particular: ourselves. Here these expert authors, who once counted themselves among the skeptics, show just how much opinions have changed. They suggest that human and animal consciousness may differ in degree of complexity, but not necessarily in kind, and that the study of other animal minds can tell us much about our own. It is a provocative closing for this examination of one of modern science's most controversial topics.