The philosophy of comparative psychology investigates a range of issues connected to the study of animal minds. These include first-order questions about the nature of certain cognitive traits, the cognitive abilities implicated in their exercise, and the distribution of these traits in the animal kingdom; and second-order questions about how best to study the minds of animals, how to integrate the findings of different fields of comparative research, and how to reconcile empirical data with phi…
Read moreThe philosophy of comparative psychology investigates a range of issues connected to the study of animal minds. These include first-order questions about the nature of certain cognitive traits, the cognitive abilities implicated in their exercise, and the distribution of these traits in the animal kingdom; and second-order questions about how best to study the minds of animals, how to integrate the findings of different fields of comparative research, and how to reconcile empirical data with philosophical theorising. In this article, we introduce some of these issues to provide a brief guide for those keen to engage with this burgeoning field of research.
