How Should We Study Animal Consciousness Scientifically?
Jonathan Birch, D. Broom, Heather Browning, A. Crump, Simona Ginsburg, Marta Halina, DavidW. Harrison, Eva Jablonka, Andrew Lee, F. Kammerer, C. Klein, Victor A. F. Lamme, M. Michel, F. Wemelsfelder, Oryan Zacks
Journal of Consciousness Studies March 31, 2022 DOI: 10.53765/20512201.29.3.008 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that human subjective experience includes a complete sensory world beyond just vision, citing Ernst Mach's visual point-of-view drawing as an illustration. |
Abstract
A conscious being has a subjective point of view on the world and on its own body. This idea of a ‘point of view’ is easiest to grasp in the case of vision. Ernst Mach, in the Analysis of Sensations, famously attempted to draw his own visual point of view (Figure 1). But there is far more to human subjective experience than vision. Our subjective point of view includes sounds, odours, tastes, tactile experiences — a complete sensory world. And these sensory experiences of a world