Cognition, complexity and autopoiesis: it´s time for a new concept of “Animal” term?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62580/ipsc.2023.8.13Keywords:
complexity, autopoiesis, cognition, animal, conceptAbstract
This paper has the objective of arguing that today a new concept of "animal" is needed given the advances in philosophy and science about the animal kingdom. The main hypothesis of the present investigation is that the conception and concept of "animal" should not be only as a heterotrophic organism with the ability to move at will among other obvious attributes, but that a complex concept and definition is needed that is consistent with the term "autopoiesis" and with what has been investigated in the sciences of complexity. The methodology used in this research was the bibliographic review of the concept of “animal” from the current point of view of philosophy and science. The investigations carried out since the last century have shown that there is something called chaos and complexity that is inherent to the reality that our eyes and our conventional thinking perceive and that has revolutionized the other sciences, be it biology, physics, or social sciences, among others. Animal cognition, an example of complexity, is present in thousands of species and is something gradual that goes from learning by association to the extraordinary abilities of the human being, but much remains to be known about its origin and what determines these amazing abilities in the animal kingdom.
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