Do honeybees have concepts?

Bernardo Aguilera Dreyse*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Can animals think? In this paper I address the proposal that many animals, including insects such as honeybees, have genuine thoughts. I consider one prominent version of this view (Carruthers 2004; 2006) that claims that honeybees can represent and process information about their environments in a way that satisfies the main hallmarks of human conceptual thought. I shall argue, however, that this view fails to provide convincing grounds for accepting that animals possess concepts. More precisely, I suggest that two important aspects of conceptual thought, viz., concept individuation and the generality constraint, are not satisfied.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)107-125
Number of pages19
JournalDisputatio
Volume4
Issue number30
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Philosophy

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