Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?

In our daily lives, we attribute emotions to non-human animals. However,the ontological commitments this implies are still in discussion. Particularly,philosophers still debate whether considerations about the mechanisms un-derlying emotions are necessary or not to attribute emotions to non-humanani...

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Main Author: Juan R. Loaiza
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) 2022-12-01
Series:Perspectiva Filosófica
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Online Access:https://periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/index.php/perspectivafilosofica/article/view/256754
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author Juan R. Loaiza
author_facet Juan R. Loaiza
author_sort Juan R. Loaiza
collection DOAJ
description In our daily lives, we attribute emotions to non-human animals. However,the ontological commitments this implies are still in discussion. Particularly,philosophers still debate whether considerations about the mechanisms un-derlying emotions are necessary or not to attribute emotions to non-humananimals. Here, I argue that such considerations are not sufficient, and that afunctionalist perspective is more fruitful than its main contender, the homo-logy thinking view. To do this, I consider findings from experimental psy-chology on emotion attribution to non-human animals and distinguish twoquestions concerning such emotions. I then discuss functionalism and ho-mology thinking, claiming that homology thinking precludes promising em-pirical hypotheses from the outset, resulting in a more limited position thanfunctionalism. Hence, functionalism inherits many benefits of homologythinking while providing more productive grounds.  
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spelling doaj-art-aa10e4cd04da43c19a6cc4a921e7cf4b2025-08-20T03:14:28ZengUniversidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE)Perspectiva Filosófica0104-64542357-99862022-12-0149510.51359/2357-9986.2022.256754Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?Juan R. Loaiza0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0570-3832Universidad del Rosario in BogotáIn our daily lives, we attribute emotions to non-human animals. However,the ontological commitments this implies are still in discussion. Particularly,philosophers still debate whether considerations about the mechanisms un-derlying emotions are necessary or not to attribute emotions to non-humananimals. Here, I argue that such considerations are not sufficient, and that afunctionalist perspective is more fruitful than its main contender, the homo-logy thinking view. To do this, I consider findings from experimental psy-chology on emotion attribution to non-human animals and distinguish twoquestions concerning such emotions. I then discuss functionalism and ho-mology thinking, claiming that homology thinking precludes promising em-pirical hypotheses from the outset, resulting in a more limited position thanfunctionalism. Hence, functionalism inherits many benefits of homologythinking while providing more productive grounds.   https://periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/index.php/perspectivafilosofica/article/view/256754Non-human emotionsfunctionalismhomology thinkingmultiple realization
spellingShingle Juan R. Loaiza
Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?
Perspectiva Filosófica
Non-human emotions
functionalism
homology thinking
multiple realization
title Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?
title_full Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?
title_fullStr Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?
title_full_unstemmed Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?
title_short Non-human animal emotions: homological or functional kinds?
title_sort non human animal emotions homological or functional kinds
topic Non-human emotions
functionalism
homology thinking
multiple realization
url https://periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/index.php/perspectivafilosofica/article/view/256754
work_keys_str_mv AT juanrloaiza nonhumananimalemotionshomologicalorfunctionalkinds