Recent French, Belgian and Italian work in the cognitive science of animals: Dominique Lestel, Vinciane Despret, Roberto Marchesini and Giorgio Celli

Abstract

This paper is a review of the work of four scholars who have made substantial new developments in our understanding of animal mind and animal–human interactions. Dominique Lestel indicates that culture is rooted in the animal realm and draws upon ethology and ethnography to study animal worlds. Vinciane Despret pays heed to complex animal–human sociality and combines critical psychology and ethology to take account of animal mind. Roberto Marchesini argues that animal influence on humans is widespread and is foundational to culture; he uses anthropology and ethology to expand the field of animal–human interactions. Giorgio Celli holds that ethology permeates the spaces of everyday life and that animals such as cats demonstrate complex problem-solving and social behavior.