Kristin Andrews, Societies in the Wild
September 21 2024, 17:00 BST/ 12:00 ET/ 09:00 PT (5pm BST/ 12pm ET/ 9am PT)
Societies in the Wild
Animals were long thought to be innately endowed with their skills, but there is a growing understanding that all animals have things to learn, and they can only learn these things from others. From research on chimpanzee cultural differences to the discovery that fruit flies learn who to mate with from observing others, animals across existing life appear to have culture. Less explored are the cultures that exist between species—multi-species bird flocks; herders, dogs, and goats; fishers, dolphins, and fish; street dogs and humans—and the cultural information that humans have acquired from other animals—medicines; weaving; travel routes.
In this talk, Kristin takes multiculturalism out of the human domain and explores some implications of the robust research program in animal culture. Culture cannot be the “secret to human success” given how widely distributed it is. Individuals are not their species membership or their DNA; we can never bring back the woolly mammoth. Where there is culture, there are going to be rules, social norms that describe what is permitted and forbidden, so animal culture helps to illuminate the cognitive capacities capable of supporting thinking in terms of oughts. And where there are rules, there will be motivation, which requires sentience—having and caring about goals.
About the speaker
Kristin Andrews, philosopher and author, holds the York Research Chair in Animal Minds at York University (Canada) where she is a Professor in the Philosophy Department, is CIFAR Fellow in the Future Flourishing program, and is on the board of directors for the Borneo Orangutan Society Canada. Her research combines philosophical and empirical approaches to questions about animal consciousness, agency, and sociality. Her books include The Animal Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Animal Cognition, How to Study Animal Minds, Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief. She is currently writing a trade book on animal culture and multi-species norms.
