Single Idea 17768

[catalogued under 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 8. Human Thought]

Full Idea

One striking feature of human thought involves our ability to disengage the focus of thought from that of our perceptual attention. ...To get a fix on what an animal is thinking about, one need only determine the object of its perceptual attention.

Gist of Idea

Perception reveals what animals think, but humans can disengage thought from perception

Source

Tim Bayne (Thought: a very short introduction [2013], Ch.4)

Book Reference

Bayne,Tim: 'Thought: a very short introduction' [OUP 2013], p.56


A Reaction

What happens when an animal closes its eyes, or stirs violently during sleep? I take the hallmark of human thought to be its multi-level character, and this offers nice evidence for that view. Doing philosophy while driving a car is very revealing.