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
Citations in the library
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- The Origins of Consciousness or the War of the Five Dimensions Biological Theory August 25, 2022
- Neuroscience of animal consciousness: still agnostic after all. Frontiers in Psychology October 9, 2024
- A multidimensional approach to the self in non-human animals through the Pattern Theory of Self. Frontiers in Psychology 2025
- Subcortical correlates of consciousness with human single neuron recordings. Elife May 22, 2025
- Consciousness at sea. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences November 13, 2025
and 15 more in the library
Cites 4
- Dimensions of Animal Consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences August 20, 2020
- Methodological Encounters with the Phenomenal Kind. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research March 1, 2012
- The Measurement Problem of Consciousness Philosophical Topics 2020
- What insects can tell us about the origins of consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences April 18, 2016