"Can a mirror capture the self?" by Cynthia Willett

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Citation

Willett, Cynthia (2019) Can a mirror capture the self?. Animal Sentience 25(36)

Author Website

https://sites.google.com/site/cynthiawillett/home

Thread

Lori Marino and Debra Merskin, Intelligence, complexity, and individuality in sheep

Abstract

Is the mirror a reliable indicator of self-awareness for any species, whether sheep or human? Taking a cue from feminist, phenomenological, and cross-cultural philosophy, a relational self rather than a reflective one might better capture what is at stake for the lives of social animals and for science.

Author Biography

Cynthia Willett is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Philosophy at Emory University. Her books include Interspecies Ethics (Columbia University Press, 2014) and (with historian Julie Willett) Uproarious: How Feminists and Other Subversive Comics Speak Truth (University of Minnesota, 2019; open access), including research on human and nonhuman primates, horses, and corvids as tricksters and jokers. Website

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