Abstrakt: | The article asks questions about the human cognitive abilities – how it is to be an animal of a species
different from one’s own. Using as a basis the doubts of the philosopher Thomas Nagel, the author
proceeds to discuss the standpoint of ethnologists Frans de Waal and Konrad Lorenz, who accept
the limitations of the human cognitive apparatus and language, with the help of which we describe
what we call the “animal.” The author suggests that the problem of contemporary humanities and animal
studies lies not in anthropodenial, but in anthropomorphism, rooted in the centrism typical
of our species, which seems impossible to overcome. The author also proposes a thesis that the way
to overcome this issue is for people to gain knowledge about these limitations. This knowledge, supported
by interspecies empathy, developed in the process of coevolution of animal species (humans
being one of them), is the most effective tool of heuristics. |