Looking inside the minds of humans and other animals

Plants don't think - but animals do. The difference between the thoughts of humans and the thoughts of other animals - and whether we will ever be able to find out exactly what they are - will be the topic of a public lecture given this evening by a Cambridge philosopher. While scientists spend their time in laboratories, philosophers spend their time thinking. Professor Tim Crane, the new Knightsbridge Professor of Philosophy, specialises in thinking about thought. For example: what are the essential features of anything that counts as thought? What is it to be conscious? What is it like to be a dog? For the last 20 years Crane has been working on these abstract questions about thought and consciousness and he is best known for his book Elements of Mind (2001). Recently, he has been focusing on the difference between the thoughts of humans and the thoughts of other animals - not just on what they think about and how we know about it, but also on what kinds of thought are available to them. These topics will be a strand of his next book, The Objects of Thought, due out in 2012, and will be central to next week's talk.