I thought that Gilbert’s points about predictive characteristics in animals versus humans was really intriguing. He essentially explained that whilst animals can do things in preparation for the future, their actions merely resemble predictive thinking; he purported that their thought processes are not nearly as complex and thorough as human thoughts. I’m not sure if I agree with this. When Professor Goodman asked him this question, I began to think about bears preparing to hibernate or birds migrating in the winter, for example. Whilst I can agree with the fact that these are more instinctual qualities rather than predictive ones, I’m not sure if an action being instinctual necessarily precludes it from being a predictive thought process. A capacity to understand imminent weather changes, climate conditions, and nutritional needs requires, in a way, complex and thorough predictive reasoning – in spite of being instinctual. I also think a lot of the predictive qualities humans have (which Gilbert claims animals don’t have the “capacity” to do) is grounded in instinct and human nature, which, again, makes it no less of a prediction.
top of page
bottom of page