Pathological complexity and African elephant consciousness

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Date
2025-05-06
Authors
Ross, Don
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SAGE
Published Version
10.1177/10597123251340889
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Abstract
Veit (2023) provides a framework for modelling and empirically investigating varieties of consciousness as a Darwinian phenomenon, based on abduction from life histories of animals. The alleged ‘hard problem’ is exposed as an artefact of ignoring mechanisms by which increasingly complex varieties of consciousness evolved under selection pressure over evolutionary time. I illustrate Veit’s approach through a case study of a highly complex but non-human variety, consciousness in African elephants. This is useful for specifying more exactly the kind of anthropocentrism that Veit criticises.
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Keywords
Elephant consciousness , Pathaological complexity , Life history theory
Citation
Ross, D. (2025) 'Pathological complexity and African elephant consciousness', Adaptive Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1177/10597123251340889
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https://hdl.handle.net/10468/17398
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Philosophy - Journal Articles
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© 2025, the Author. Published by SAGE on behalf of the International Society of Adaptive Behavior. This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license.