Single Idea 5801

[catalogued under 11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / f. Animal beliefs]

Full Idea

A mouse can see and hear a piano being played, but believing is something else; it requires the concept of a piano, and understanding. Mice who hear pianos being played do not believe pianos are being played.

Gist of Idea

A mouse hearing a piano played does not believe it, because it lacks concepts and understanding

Source

Fred Dretske (Naturalizing the Mind [1997], §1.3)

Book Reference

Dretske,Fred: 'Naturalizing the Mind' [MIT 1997], p.9


A Reaction

Are we to say that when a mouse hears a piano it has no beliefs at all? Might not a belief involve images, so that a mouse calls up appropriate images from previous experiences, which are in a grey area on the edge of belief?