Other-Awareness

Abstract

Other-awareness is the ability to recognize another as minded. This sort of ability is usually identified with mindreading: the ability to attribute mental states to another and use this attribution to predict and/or explain his or her behavior. It is unclear whether animals have mindreading abilities. However, even if they do not, there is another way of being aware of the mindedness of another. Just as there is a pre-intentional form of self-awareness, so too is there a pre-intentional form of other-awareness. In pre-intentional self-awareness, one is aware of oneself in virtue of being aware of something else in a certain way. In pre-intentional other-awareness, one is aware of the other in virtue of being aware of oneself in a certain way. Arguments are presented for the claim that many animals can be pre-intentionally other-aware.