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Individuating Cognitive Characters: Lessons from Praying Mantises and Plants
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Individuating Cognitive Characters: Lessons from Praying Mantises and Plants

Carrie Figdor
Philosophy of science, Vol.91(4), pp.930-949
03/22/2024
DOI: 10.1017/psa.2024.10
url
https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2024.10View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

This article advances the development of a phylogeny-based psychology in which cognitive ability types are individuated as characters in the evolutionary biological sense. I explain the character concept and its utility in addressing (or dissolving) conceptual problems arising from discoveries of cognitive abilities across a wide range of species. I use the examples of stereopsis in the praying mantis, internal cell-to-cell signaling in plants, and episodic memory in scrub jays to show how anthropocentric cognitive ability types can be reformulated into cognitive characters, thereby promoting the integration of psychology with other sciences of evolved traits.
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