Animal Agency

Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 52 (3):217-231 (2009)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Are animals agents? This question demands a prior answer to the question of what an agent is. The paper argues that we ought not to think of this as merely a matter of choosing from a range of alternative definitional stipulations. Evidence from developmental psychology is offered in support of the view that a basic concept of agency is a very early natural acquisition, which is established prior to the development of any full-blown propositional attitude concepts. Then it is argued that whatever one makes of the developmental evidence, it is in any case arguable on other grounds that the concept of agency as we have it in adulthood remains perfectly comprehensible independently of any reference to the more sophisticated propositional attitudes. Any reluctance we might feel to ascribe such things as beliefs to non-human animals, therefore, need not stand in the way of the claim that they are agents, nevertheless. The paper attempts to characterise the core of this basic agency concept, and discusses, albeit briefly, the question how we ought to decide which animals are to be thought of as falling under it. It concludes with some speculations about the nature of the intellectual currents which have made the shape of this important concept so hard for us to discern.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 102,440

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Animal Agency.Dale Jamieson - 2018 - The Harvard Review of Philosophy 25:111-126.
Animal Agency, Captivity, and Meaning.Nicolas Delon - 2018 - The Harvard Review of Philosophy 25:127-146.
Animal Agency.Hans-Johann Glock - 2010 - In Timothy O'Connor & Constantine Sandis (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Action. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 384–392.
Animals, Agency and Resistance.Bob Carter & Nickie Charles - 2013 - Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 43 (3):322-340.
Environmental challenge and animal agency.Marek Pinka & Françoise Wemelsfelder - 2018 - In Michael C. Appleby, Anna Olsson & Francisco Galindo (eds.), Animal welfare. Boston, MA: CABI.
Aristotle’s Theory of Animal Agency and the Problem of Self-Motion.Klaus Corcilius - 2021 - In Sophia M. Connell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle's Biology. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. pp. 176-194.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-08-26

Downloads
290 (#96,440)

6 months
15 (#200,252)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Helen Steward
University of Leeds

Citations of this work

Animals and the agency account of moral status.Marc G. Wilcox - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 177 (7):1879-1899.
A republic for all sentients: Social freedom without free will.Eze Paez - 2021 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 103 (3):620-644.
Action.George Wilson - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

View all 15 citations / Add more citations