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Are Apes’ Responses To Pointing Gestures Intentional?, Olivia Sultanescu, Kristin Andrews
Are Apes’ Responses To Pointing Gestures Intentional?, Olivia Sultanescu, Kristin Andrews
Kristin Andrews, PhD
This paper examines the meaningfulness of pointing in great apes. We appeal to Hannah Ginsborg’s conception of primitive normativity, which provides an adequate criterion for establishing whether a response is meaningful, and we attempt to make room for a conception according to which there is no fundamental difference between the responses of human infants and those of other great apes to pointing gestures. This conception is an alternative to Tomasello’s view that pointing gestures and reactions to them reveal a fundamental difference between humans and other apes.
Understanding Norms Without A Theory Of Mind, Kristin Andrews
Understanding Norms Without A Theory Of Mind, Kristin Andrews
Kristin Andrews, PhD
I argue that having a theory of mind requires having at least implicit knowledge of the norms of the community, and that an implicit understanding of the normative is what drives the development of a theory of mind. This conclusion is defended by two arguments. First I argue that a theory of mind likely did not develop in order to predict behavior, because before individuals can use propositional attitudes to predict behavior, they have to be able to use them in explanations of behavior. Rather, I suggest that the need to explain behavior in terms of reasons is the primary …