Theo Todman's Web Page - Paper Abstracts

Introduction

1. Patrick Phillips asks: Is It Incredible?
2. “A dog cannot relate its autobiography; however eloquently he may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were honest though poor.”
   → Bertrand Russell - Human Knowledge: Its Scope And Limits
3. “A dog believes his master is at the door. But can he also believe that his master will come the day after tomorrow?…How am I supposed to answer this?”
   → Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations
4. Can we talk with the animals? I am assuming in this article that ‘talking to the animals’ would require, at least, that the animals in question possessed a language capacity, however basic. Otherwise any conversation one undertook would be one-sided.