Of Windows and Worlds : Representations of, by and within Honeybees
Date
2023
Authors
Shepherd, Dook
Editors
Advisors
Ankeny, Rachel
Leonelli, Sabina (University of Exeter)
Leonelli, Sabina (University of Exeter)
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
Thesis
Citation
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
Motivated by conceptual, theoretical and definitional puzzles about what ‘cognition’ consists in, this thesis explores how scientific researchers apply concepts falling under cognition, such as ‘representation’, in experimental research with honeybees in order to understand putatively cognitive honeybee behaviours. By taking a scientifically informed philosophical approach, engaging with empirical scientific research with a concrete biological system as a test case, and by attending to what bees themselves do, philosophers and researchers may calibrate some of the most intellectually vexed concepts in cognitive scholarship, and address some concerns over whether key concepts are explanatory, have utility or have any extension in the world. The three main interconnecting research questions that this thesis explores in detail involve: 1. Representations of bees by human beings – how do researchers themselves represent bees, their capacities, and their interests? 2. Representation by bees – how do bees communicate publicly with one another and how does this compare and contrast with our understanding of human linguistic communication? 3. Representation within bees – how might we develop an approach towards understanding honeybee behaviour which allows us, as researchers and theorists, the prospect of inferring or apprehending some of the contents of their internal, putatively representational states and might we infer something of bees’ own minds? I argue that bees are cognitive creatures, that they may act as a useful guide towards conceptualising cognitive capacities and that we may indeed have unprecedented evidence of, and epistemic access to, their internal states. Taken together, the findings in this thesis entail that honeybees are morally considerable beings which motivate a reconsideration of insect ethics.
School/Discipline
School of Humanities : Philosophy
Dissertation Note
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2024
Provenance
This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals