Interaction and Ostension: The myth of 4th order Intentionality

Sievers, Christine (2022). Interaction and Ostension: The myth of 4th order Intentionality. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society. Series B - biological sciences, 377(1859) Royal Society of London 10.1098/rstb.2021.0105

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Research in comparative cognition on allegedly uniquely human capacities considers the identification of these human capacities in other species as one of their main points of inquiry. Capacities are applied in their theoretical descriptions to promising empirical data. The conclusion then often is that even though, on a behavioural level, the human and nonhuman cases appear related, on a cognitive level there is no relation whatsoever because the underlying cognitive states diverge in quality. This result seems dissatisfying for two reasons: (1) there is ample empirical evidence that suggests the presence of the capacities in other species, and (2) the claim that the underlying states diverge often hinges on the reference to the theoretical definitions of these capacities only. This opinion piece focuses on the capacity of ostensive intentional communication to demonstrate that the original theoretical analyses often are not befitting a comparative endeavour and should therefore not be used as pivotal reference within comparative research. An outlook will be provided on more promising approaches to identifying ostensive communication, namely an interactive approach that will allow for ostension to not be perceived as a one-turn signalling behaviour, but as interactive, with the possibility of being established in a trial-and-error manner.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Philosophy
06 Faculty of Humanities > Other Institutions > Walter Benjamin Kolleg (WBKolleg)

UniBE Contributor:

Sievers, Christine

Subjects:

100 Philosophy

ISSN:

0962-8436

Publisher:

Royal Society of London

Language:

English

Submitter:

Christine Sievers

Date Deposited:

21 Jul 2022 10:43

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:11

Publisher DOI:

10.1098/rstb.2021.0105

Additional Information:

Preprint DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/fxuth

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/166256

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/166256

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