Animal Lecturedays in the North (Drenthe)

After the succesfull lectureday about the intelligence of dogs, last April in the province of Drenthe, there was a need for more lecturedays by me. I will return to the Nothern provinces of The Netherlands with two new lecturedays. One about the consciousness and the emotional lives of dogs and other animals. And a day about animal ethics, in which we will discuss the various points of view that exist with regard to the question of how we should treat other animals. The lecturedays are held for all those interested in enriching their knowledge about the consciousness and emotions of animals and who want to increase their knowledge and think about animal ethics. The lecturedays will be held in Zwiggelte in the province of Drenthe. We start at eleven o’clock in the morning and continue until half past five in the afternoon. As usual, the lecturedays will be enlivened by lots of pictures and interesting short videos. At the end of the day you will receive a certificate from the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science. Below you will find the information about both lecturedays. Note that both lecturedays will be held in the Dutch language.

See you in Drenthe this September and October!

Sunday 15 September: Lectureday “Consciousness and emotions in animals.”

Can animals feel affection and love?

During this lectureday we will address the question whether other animals besides humans have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things just like us in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language. In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals. I will present the work of Jaak Panksepp on affective neuroscience, which shows that at least all mammals, and birds too, share a number of brain centers for the same emotional systems. I will also discuss the various emotions of dogs and other animals. Which particular emotions do they have? Pleasure, pain, jealousy, guilt, gratitude? How important are affection and love in the lives of animals? Which animals seem to mourn deceased conspecifics? Can rats, dogs and apes laugh? Can animals have emotional traumas? And what similarities exist between humans and other animals with regard to altered states of consciousness, such as dreaming and being under the influence of psychoactive medication and drugs?

Sunday 6 October: Lectureday “Introduction to animal ethics.”

How should we relate to other animals?

On this lectureday I will give a review of the most important schools of thought in animal ethics. After a short introduction to philosophy and ethics, and the history of moral thought about nonhuman animals, the most important current philosophers will be presented: Peter Singer and his utilitarian ethics of animal liberation. Tom Regan, who argues for animal rights from a deontological perspective. Philosophers who argue that the presence of sentience or consciousness is sufficient condition for equal moral consideration, such as Gary Francione. Philosophers who make a moral distinction between humans and other animals based on the capacity for language (Frey, Carruthers). Feminist animal ethics which looks at animals with the concepts of care and dialogue. And finally, deep ecology, in which humans and other animals are part of the biosphere. The following questions will be discussed, among others: Is the capacity for self-awareness relevant for the ways in which an animal should be treated? Are some animals replaceable? How can we discern speciesism, discrimination based on species? What are the arguments for equality among all animals? Do all living beings have an inherent value? What should one do if one is in a lifeboat with 3 other humans and 1 dog and one individual has to be thrown overboard in order not to sink the lifeboat? After this presentation of the various schools of thought and positions in animal ethics, a practical part will follow. The participants at the lectureday will be assigned to the most important animal ethics positions. We will then discuss several moral questions or dilemmas and the participants will then have to apply the reasoning of the particular animal ethics position they have been assigned to, to the specific moral dilemma. Examples of these moral dilemmas are the keeping of animals in captivity, like in zoos, but also the recent issues regarding the large herbivores that have been placed in human constructed nature areas such as the Oostvaardersplassen: Is it morally justified not to feed these animals, but cull them during severe winters?

Practical information. The Lecturedays are organized for people who work with animals professionally, for students, and for anyone interested in animals and eager to broaden their knowledge about them. A specific former education is not required. The lecturedays will be given in the Dutch language, but a passive knowledge of English is convenient, given that some of the films that I will show are not subtitled. Both lecturedays will start at 11.00 o’clock in the morning and will end at 17.30 in the afternoon. They will be held at Logement In Den Groene Specht, Hoofdstraat 13 in Zwiggelte, province of Drenthe. Zwiggelte can be reached from most places in the four northern provinces within 100 kilometers. It can only be reached by car, but if you are dependent on public transport we can probably arrange something for you. Registration fee: 55 euro for each lectureday. For students (with a student ID card) the fee is 35 euro for each lectureday. This includes coffee and tea, and a lunch (vegetarian or vegan lunch can be arranged). For those interested, there is also a possibility to have an informal dinner with me afterwards. In order to register, send a message to estebanyes@gmail.com or by filling out the form below: 

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Three Animal Lecturedays

The Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science is organizing at the end of May and the beginning of June three lecturedays for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge about the intelligence, the consciousness and emotions of animals and about animal ethics. In the past year I organized the Animal Summerlectures and the Animal Winterlectures, in which I presented these subjects as well, but there the time limitation of 3 hours was sometimes inconvenient. For this reason I am now organizing whole lecturedays, so we will have enough time to discuss the subjects and to have questions and good discussions with the audience. The lecturedays will be held in Amsterdam. We will start at 11 o’clock in the morning and we’ll continue until half past 5 in the afternoon. As usual the lecturedays will be enlivened by lots of pictures and interesting short videos. At the end of the day you will receive a certificate from the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science. The programme of the three Animal Lecturedays is as follows.

Saturday 25 May: Animal Lectureday 1: Recent research on the intelligence of dogs.

How smart are dogs?

In the past 19 years many new and exciting studies have been carried out on the intelligence or cognition of dogs. Special institutes for intelligence research with dogs have been set up at universities all over the world: the Family Dog Project at the University of Budapest (Adam Miklosi), the department of Comparative and Developmental Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy at the University of Leipzig (Juliane Kaminski and Michael Tomasello), the Clever Dog Lab at the University of Vienna (Ludwig Huber), and the Duke Canine Cognition Center at Duke University in the USA (Brian Hare). During this lectureday I will present and discuss the results of all these recent studies with dogs. Central themes are the social and physical intelligence of dogs. Subjects that will be presented are, amongst others: Do dogs understand what humans see, hear or know? What do dogs learn by social observation, is there evidence for imitation in dogs? Do dogs understand human communicative signals, such as pointing and gaze direction? How much evidence exists regarding empathy in dogs? What are the results of language research with dogs? Are dogs able to understand human words? What does dogs’ physical intelligence consists of, what do they know about their physical environment? Are dogs aware that objects keep existing (object permanence), can dogs count? How do they behave in exciting studies such as the magic cup? This lectureday will give you a good review of the current state of affairs of our scientific knowledge about the intelligence of dogs. This will probably change your own view of what dogs are capable of in terms of intelligence.

Saturday 1 June: Animal Lectureday 2: Consciousness and emotions in animals.

During this lectureday we will address the question whether other animals have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language (Bermond, Carruthers). In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals. I will present the work of Jaak Panksepp on affective neuroscience, which shows that at least all mammals, and birds too, share a number of brain centers for the same emotional systems. I will also discuss the various emotions of animals. Which particular emotions do they have? Pleasure, pain, jealousy, guilt, gratitude? Which animals seem to mourn deceased conspecifics? And what similarities exist between humans and other animals with regard to altered states of consciousness, such as dreaming and being under the influence of psychoactive medication and drugs?

Saturday 8 June: Animal Lectureday 3: Introduction to animal ethics.

How should we relate to other animals?

On this lectureday I will give a review of the most important schools of thought in animal ethics. After a short introduction to philosophy and ethics and the history of moral thought about nonhuman animals, the most important current philosophers will be presented: Peter Singer and his utilitarian ethics of animal liberation. Tom Regan, who argues for animal rights from a deontological perspective. Philosophers who argue that the presence of sentience or consciousness is sufficient condition for moral consideration, such as Gary Francione. Philosophers who make a moral distinction between humans and other animals based on the capacity for language (Frey, Carruthers). Feminist animal ethics which looks at animals with the concepts of care and dialogue. And finally, deep ecology, in which humans and other animals are part of the biosphere. After this presentation of the various schools of thought and positions in animal ethics, a practical part will follow. The participants at the lectureday will be assigned to the most important animal ethics positions. We will then discuss several moral questions or dilemmas and the participants will then have to apply the reasoning of the particular animal ethics position they have been assigned to, to the specific moral dilemma. Examples of these moral dilemmas can be the problem of experimentation with nonhuman animals, but also the recent issues regarding the animals that live in human constructed areas such as the Oostvaardersplassen and the Amsterdam Waterleidingduinen.

Practical information. The Animal Lecturedays are organized for people who work with animals professionally, for students, and for anyone interested in animals and eager to broaden their knowledge about them. A specific former education is not required. The lecturedays will be given in the Dutch language, but a passive knowledge of English is convenient, given that some of the films that I will show are not subtitled. All lecturedays will start at 11.00 o’clock in the morning and will end at 17.30 in the afternoon. They will be held at Madame de Pompadour, Langsom 28 in Amsterdam. This location is very well accessible both by car (there is even free parking!) and by public transport. The costs for attending are 60 euros per person for each lectureday. This price includes lunch and coffee and tea. Lunch will be both vegetarian and vegan. You can register for all three Animal Lecturedays or to one of your own choice.

U can register by sending a message to estebanyes@gmail.com or by filling out the form below:

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This Fall I am planning to organize multiple-day courses with my Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science. I will then offer my course on communication and language research with animals, which I have given to various institutes of Higher Education for Older People (HOVO), so that people of all ages, including people younger than 50, can finally also attend this course. I am also busy constructing a new course on the intelligence of all kinds of animals, such as dogs, great apes and birds (corvids and others). Keep following me in order to stay up to date about coming events.

New date lecture day intelligence of dogs: 7 April

The lecture day I was going to give on 24 February in Drenthe about the recent studies about the intelligence of dogs also had to be cancelled because of my flu. This is the second time it had be to cancelled, after it was first cancelled at the end of January due to the severe winter weather conditions. A new date has now been set for this lecture day in Drenthe: Sunday 7 April. Well into the Spring season, so no more winter weather or flu viruses! There is still room for a number of people, so you can still register for this lecture day.

Do dogs understand what humans can see?

Description of the lecture day: In the past 19 years many new and exciting studies have been carried out on the intelligence or cognition of dogs. Special institutes for intelligence research with dogs have been set up at universities all over the world: the Family Dog Project at the University of Budapest (Adam Miklosi), the department of Comparative and Developmental Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy at the University of Leipzig (Juliane Kaminski and Michael Tomasello), the Clever Dog Lab at the University of Vienna (Ludwig Huber), and the Duke Canine Cognition Center at Duke University in the USA (Brian Hare). During the lecture day on January 27 I will discuss the results of all these recent studies with dogs. Central themes are the social and physical intelligence of dogs. Subjects that will be presented are, amongst others: Do dogs understand what humans see, hear or know? What do dogs learn by social observation, is there evidence for imitation in dogs? Do dogs understand human communicative signals, such as pointing and gaze direction? How much evidence exists regarding empathy in dogs? What are the results of language research with dogs? Are dogs able to understand human words? What does dogs’ physical intelligence consists of, what do they know about their physical environment? Are dogs aware that objects keep existing (object permanence), can dogs count? How do they behave in exciting studies such as the magic cup? As usual, the lecture will be accompanied by lots of pictures and several interesting short films of these studies. The language at the lecture day will be Dutch.

Practical information: The day will start at 11.00 and will end at 17.30. It will be held at Logement In Den Groene Specht, Hoofdstraat 13, in Zwiggelte in Drenthe. Zwiggelte can be reached from most places in the four northern provinces within 100 kilometers. It can only be reached by car, but if you are dependent on public transport we can probably arrange something for you. Registration fee: 55 euro, including lunch, coffee and tea. A vegetarian or vegan lunch can be arranged. For those interested, there is also a possibility to have an informal dinner with me afterwards. In order to register, send a message to estebanyes@gmail.com

See you on April 7 in Drenthe!

New date lecture Consciousness and emotions in animals

My third Animal Winterlecture, on the subject of consciousness and emotions in animals, which had been originally planned for Saturday 23 February, has had to be cancelled, due to the severe flu I was suffering from. Because there had been a significant number of people that was interested in this particular lecture, I have decided to create a new date for this lecture. The new date is now set for Saturday 23 March.

Affection between a cat and a great ape.

Description of the lecture: In this lecture I will address the question whether other animals have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language (Bermond, Carruthers). In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals. I will present the work of Jaak Panksepp on affective neuroscience, which shows that at least all mammals, and birds too, share a number of brain centers for the same emotional systems. I will also discuss the various emotions of animals. Which particular emotions do they have? Pleasure, pain, jealousy, guilt, gratitude? Which animals seem to mourn deceased conspecifics? And what similarities exist between humans and other animals with regard to altered states of consciousness, such as dreaming and being under the influence of drugs?

For whom? The lecture is organized for anyone who is interested in animals and would like to know more about recent developments in scientific research about the consciousness and emotions of animals. A special education is not required. The lecture will have room for questions and discussion, and will be enlivened by lots of pictures and short films. The lecture will be given in the Dutch language, but a passive knowledge of English is convenient, given that some of the films that I will show are not subtitled.

Time: The lecture lasts 3 hours, starting at 12.30 and ending at 15.30 hours. The date is Saturday 23 March 2013.

Location: The lecture will be held in the main building (Hoofdgebouw) of the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) at the De Boelelaan 1105 in Amsterdam. This location can be reached well by both public transport or car.

Price: The costs are 25 euro per person. Admission to the lecture is only given when payment has been received in advance.

Registration: You can register for the lecture by sending an email to estebanyes@gmail.com.

I hope to see you in Amsterdam on March 23!

Apes and Dolphins Seminar Series

The Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science and the Dolphin Communication Project are organizing the Apes and Dolphins Seminar Series this year in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Join Esteban Rivas and Justin Gregg for this three part seminar series exploring the scientific and ethical issues surrounding the study of language and intelligence in apes and dolphins.

Seminar 1

Why can’t apes and dolphins talk? Communication and language research with apes and dolphins

April 13th
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
10:00 – 17:00

Join ape language expert Esteban Rivas and dolphin communication researcher Justin Gregg for a day-long seminar addressing the question of why it’s so difficult to establish two-way communication with apes and dolphins.

This seminar will features lectures covering the study of apes’ and dolphins’ natural communication systems and the nature of the information they share with each other, as well as the many experiments that have been conducted to teach apes and dolphins to use artificial symbol systems. Both dolphins and the great apes were at the center of dozens of animal language research projects throughout the late 20th century, with the ultimate goal of establishing meaningful interspecies dialogue. A number of breakthroughs did occur, but the ultimate conclusion most scientists reached was that even the most intelligent non-human animal species do not appear to possess the kind of cognitive skills necessary to fully comprehend or use human language. This seminar will unravel the mystery of why and where things went wrong, and what the future of animal communication (and animal language) research holds in store. The lectures will feature stunning videos and images of dolphins and apes taken from Esteban and Justin’s (and the Dolphin Communication Project’s) research archive. There will of course be plenty of time for healthy discussions (and debates) throughout the day.

Registration costs 50 Euro (30 Euro for students with student ID), and includes lunch, coffee/tea, as well as a goodie-bag containing a coupon for 50% off of an adopt-a-wild-dolphin kit (from the Dolphin Communication Project), a DVD of the film Dolphins: The Lighter Side, a dolphin information booklet, and a dolphin calendar and notecards. The seminar will take place at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in room HG 2A06. This is located in the Hoofdgebouw (HG), on the second floor of section A, room #6.

To register for the seminar or for more information, please fill out the below form:

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Stay up to date about further announcements of the Apes and Dolphins Seminar Series by liking the series’ Facebook page.

The Apes and Dolphins Seminar Series is a Minding Animals Partner Event
More info about Minding Animals at www.mindinganimals.com

Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science

This January I changed the name of my company to the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science – IAPS. In Dutch translated as Instituut voor Dieren in Filosofie en Wetenschap – IDFW. This new name covers the activities that I organize in a much better way. I had also been looking for a good name for his company in order to work together with other institutes, organizations and individuals. Besides the lectures and courses that will be given by myself, the institute will also organize lectures and other events at which other scientists and philosophers will speak. I have set up a website for the Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science. There is also a Facebook page of the IAPS that you can like in order to get updates about events that the institute organizes. Below you will find some further information about my new company.

Activities

The Institute for Animals in Philosophy and Science – IAPS organizes lectures, seminars and courses about animals in philosophy and science, in its broadest sense.

Within science the institute focuses on the following subjects:

• the intelligence or cognition of animals.
• the emotions or emotional life of animals.
• the consciousness or subjective experience of animals.

Within philosophy the institute focuses on the following subjects:

• animal ethics: how should humans relate to other animals?
• philosophical anthropology: what does our current and developing knowledge about humans and other animals imply for our ideas about what it is to be human?

Which animals? All of them!

The IAPS will offer lectures, seminars and courses about all possible animal species.

Examples of subjects are:

• Language research with great apes, dolphins, sealions, parrots and dogs.
• The intelligence of corvids and other birds.
• The intelligence of great apes.
• The intelligence of dolphins and other marine mammals.
• The intelligence of dogs and cts.
• The question of animal consciousness.
• The emotional lives of animals.
• Pain and emotions in invertebrate animals?

Mission

Animals in Philosophy and Science

The name of the institute has not been chosen accidentally. It specifies that the institute is focused on the way in which people in philosophy and science think about animals. In doing so, it wants to spread the scientific knowledge about animals that is gained from empirical research and to present the various philosophical opinions and arguments regarding animals that emanate from the various subdisciplines of philosophy (ethics, philosophical anthropology).

The name also shows that philosophers and scientists themselves are animals too. In this sense it is also an institute for people who occupy themselves with animals in philosophy and science. Humans are animals too. The institute considers the traditional dichotomy between humans on the one hand, and animals on the other hand, as a position outdated long ago. It is better therefore, instead of “humans and animals” to talk about “humans and óther animals.” Or about human and nonhuman animals. The name of the institute thus indicates that the scientists and philosophers that lecture at the institute’s events consider themselves as animals and don’t feel uncomfortable by their animal nature.

Change of mentality

The IAPS wants to contribute with its lectures and courses to a change in mentality with regard to animals. By transmission of knowledge and education the institute wants to demonstrate that all animals are individuals with feelings and thoughts. And that therefore all animals should be included in our human ethics. The position of dr. Rivas is abolitionist: ending all forms of human use of other animals. However, the institute itself takes no particular stance and wants to help people think for themselves about how they should relate to animals and to make it possible for them to adopt a position independently. The institute wants to give them knowledge and argumentation by which people can decide their own particular position.

Animal Winterlectures

At the entrance of the lecture room at the Free University.

After the success of the Animal Summerlectures, that I organized this Summer at the Free University in Amsterdam, I am giving the Animal Winterlectures this winter. In these lectures I will again speak about recent developments in science and philosophy with regard to animals. The subjects of the lectures belong to my specialized knowledge, so these lectures are a good way to get acquainted with me. At the same time, I also hope to get to meet all kinds of enthusiastic people at these lectures, who are interested in broadening their knowledge about the behaviour of animals. The Animal Winterlectures will be held in the main building (Hoofdgebouw) of the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam. So if you’re thinking this Winter: I want some warmth and out of the winter depression, then come to one of my lectures on Saturday afternoon!

Though this announcement is in English, the four lectures will be held in the Dutch language.

Saturday 2 February: Recent research on the intelligence of dogs.

Dr. Rivas with the dog Faith.

In the past 18 years a lot of new research has been done on the intelligence or cognition of dogs. At the universities of Leipzig and Budapest and all over the world many new studies are taking place that study what dogs can understand of the social and physical world around them. In this lecture I will present the results of these new studies. Subjects that will be presented, among others, are: What do dogs understand of what humans can see, hear and know? How do dogs solve problems and do they learn by social observation? What do dogs comprehend of human communicative signals, such as pointing and gaze direction? What are the results of language research with dogs, can they understand human words? With regard to their physical intelligence, what do dogs understand of their physical environment, like for example gravity? Do they understand that objects keep existing (object permanence) and how do dogs behave in exciting studies such as the magic cup? This lecture will be a shortened version of the extensive lecture day on the intelligence of dogs that I will be giving in the province of Drenthe on January 27.

Saturday 16 February: Valentine’s lecture: Affection across the species barrier.

Affection between a cat and a great ape.

The relationship between humans and dogs is a good example of the deep bond that can exist between members of two different animal species. Let alone the multitude of other animals, such as cats, horses and rodents with which humans can build op a good bond. Besides this, there also exist many intriguing cases of affection and special friendships between two different nonhuman animals. Nonhuman great apes can be thrilled by cats and dogs, an elephant and a sheep in a sanctuary who are inseparable and there is a pitbull dog who protects chicks and relates to them lovingly. Even between natural enemies a bond can sometimes exist. An example is a lioness who treated a young antelope as if he were her own child. The remarkable aspect of these relationships is that to feel affection for someone it doesn’t seem to matter to what species you belong. A lesson in love we could all use as an example. The cases of interspecific affection often involve animals in human captivity, such as zoos and sanctuaries, or when humans have animals of various species inside their homes. But also in the wild we sometimes see fascinating examples of affection between different species, like in the play between chimpanzees and baboons. In my lecture I will discuss the possible causes for the existence of these affections and friendships. Are the animals still young and do they maybe see another animal as a substitute parent? What is the neurochemistry of affection (brain opioids and hormones like oxytocin) and does that exist in nonhuman animals as well? Does empathy, the ability to take the perspective of another, also play a role?

Saturday  23 February: Consciousness and emotions in animals.

Do dogs feel guilt?

In this lecture I will address the question whether other animals have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language (Bermond, Carruthers). In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals. I will present the work of Jaak Panksepp on affective neuroscience, which shows that at least all mammals, and birds too, share a number of brain centers for the same emotional systems. I will also discuss the various emotions of animals. Which particular emotions do they have? Pleasure, pain, jealousy, guilt, gratitude? Which animals seem to mourn deceased conspecifics? And what similarities exist between humans and other animals with regard to altered states of consciousness, such as dreaming and being under the influence of drugs?

Saturday 2 March: Language in animals and its moral relevance.

The chimpanzee Tatu making the sign for BLACK.

In this lecture I will give a review of the results of all language studies with nonhuman animals, which already take place for more than a century now. I will present the spoken language experiments with great apes, the sign language studies with great apes (including my own research), the projects in which bonobos and chimpanzees communicate with lexigrams (arbritrary symbols), the studies with dolphins and sealions on their understanding of commands given by human gestures, the work with the grey parrot Alex and his ability to speak human words and to use these to describe objects and finally the recent language research with dogs: border collie dogs who can understand hundreds of human words for objects and the Brazilian dog Sofia who uses lexigrams to indicate what she wants. Subsequently, I will tackle the question whether the capacity for language is of relevance to our ethics toward nonhuman animals. The theories of the philosophers R.G. Frey and Peter Carruthers about language and ethics will be discussed, as well as the way in which the Great Ape Project has used the results of language research with great apes in its moral argumentation. I will argue that the presence or absence of language and other cognitive abilities should not have moral consequences and by a discussion of Gary Francione’s work I will show that the capacity for sentience or (phenomenal) consciousness is a sufficient condition for moral equality among animals.

For whom? The Animal Winterlectures are organized for anyone who is interested in animals and would like to know more about recent developments in scientific research about language, intelligence, and emotions in animals, and in animal ethics. A special education is not required. The lectures will have room for questions and discussion, and will be enlivened by lots of pictures and short films. As was mentioned above, the lectures will be given in the Dutch language, but a passive knowledge of English is convenient, given that some of the films that I will show are not subtitled.

Time: Each lecture lasts 3 hours, starting at 12.30 and ending at 15.30 hours. This includes a short coffee and tea break.

Location: The lectures are held in the main building (Hoofdgebouw) of the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) at the De Boelelaan 1105 in Amsterdam. This location can be reached well by both public transport or car.

Price: Each individual lecture costs 25 euro. The four lectures together cost 90 euro (so a discount of 10 euro). Admission to the lectures is only given when payment has been received in advance.

Registration: You can register for the lectures by sending an email to estebanyes@gmail.com. In your message, specify which lectures you would like to attend.

I hope to see you this Winter in Amsterdam!

Happy Holidays and see you in 2013!

I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and everything good for 2013 for all animals. Looking forward to meeting you in 2013. Information about new lectures and courses will follow soon. Feliz Navidad!

Lecture day in Drenthe on the intelligence of dogs

Together with some sweet people in the north I have been able to organize a lecture day in Drenthe! On Sunday 27 January 2013 I will give a full day of lecturing about the recent studies on the intelligence of dogs. We’ve found a beautiful location in Zwiggelte. The number of admissions is limited, so be sure to register quickly!

Description of the lecture day: In the past 18 years many new and exciting studies have been carried out on the intelligence or cognition of dogs. Special institutes for intelligence research with dogs have been set up at universities all over the world: the Family Dog Project at the University of Budapest (Adam Miklosi), the department of Comparative and Developmental Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthroplogy at the University of Leipzig (Juliane Kaminski and Michael Tomasello), the Clever Dog Lab at the University of Vienna (Ludwig Huber), and the Duke Canine Cognition Center at Duke University in the USA (Brian Hare). During the lecture day on January 27 I will discuss the results of all these recent studies with dogs. Central themes are the social and physical intelligence of dogs. Subjects that will be presented are, amongst others: Do dogs understand what humans see, hear or know? What do dogs learn by social observation, is there evidence for imitation in dogs? Do dogs understand human communicative signals, such as pointing and gaze direction? How much evidence exists regarding empathy in dogs? What are the results of language research with dogs? Are dogs able to understand human words? What does dogs’ physical intelligence consists of, what do they know about their physical environment? Are dogs aware that objects keep existing (object permanence), can dogs count? How do they behave in exciting studies such as the magic cup? As usual, the lecture will be accompanied by lots of pictures and several interesting short films of these studies. The language at the lecture day will be Dutch.

Practical information: The day will start at 11.00 and will end at 17.30. It will be held at Logement In Den Groene Specht, Hoofdstraat 13, in Zwiggelte in Drenthe. Zwiggelte can be reached from most places in the four northern provinces within 100 kilometers. It can only be reached by car, but if you are dependent on public transport we can probably arrange something for you. Registration fee: 55 euro, including lunch, coffee and tea. A vegetarian or vegan lunch can be arranged. In order to register, send a message to Wendi van Voorst at wendi@shunka.nl

See you this January in Drenthe!

Lectures and courses this Fall 2012

This Fall I will be giving multiple lectures and courses for various institutes and organizations. Below you will find an overview of them, with a description of the subject and the practical information on how to register for them. This list is not complete yet, as I am still in contact with other organizations. For the most up to date listing of my lectures and courses you can always check the Calendar page of this blog.

Lecture on theme-day Emotions in cats

On Saturday 29 September the CatBehaviourAdvisorybureau (KattenGedragsAdviesbureau) is organizing a Catday in Amstelveen. The theme of this day is Emotions in cats. Cat behaviour therapist Marcellina Stolting will speak a.o. about traumas and frustration in cats, the relation between cat and ‘owner’ and the influence of play on that relationship, and the role of pheromones in the emotions of cats. Connecting to the subject of this day, I will give a lecture about affection and friendship between animals who belong to two different animal species.

Me being affectionate with dog Umai

Description: The title of my lecture will be Affection across the species barrier (Affectie over de soortgrens heen). The relationship between humans and cats is a good example of the deep bond that can exist between members of two different animal species. Let alone the multitude of other animals, such as dogs, horses and rodents with which humans can build op a good bond. Besides this, there also exist many intriguing cases of affection and special friendships between two different nonhuman animals. Nonhuman great apes can be thrilled by cats and dogs, an elephant and a sheep in a sanctuary who are inseparable and there is a pitbull dog who protects chicks and relates to them lovingly. Even between natural enemies a bond can sometimes exist. An example is a lioness who treated a young antelope as if he were her child. The remarkable aspect of these relationships is that to feel affection for someone it doesn’t seem to matter to what species you belong. A lesson in love we could all use as an example. The cases of interspecific affection often involve animals in human captivity, such as zoos and sanctuaries, or when humans have animals of various species inside their homes. But also in the wild do we sometimes see fascinating examples of affection between different species, like in the play between chimpanzees and baboons. In my lecture I will discuss the possible causes for the existence of these affections and friendships. Are the animals still young and do they maybe see another animal as a substitute parent? What is the neurochemistry of affection (brain opioids and hormones like oxytocin) and does that exist in nonhuman animals as well? Does empathy, the ability to take the perspective of another, also play a role? I will show some interesting and fun short films during the lecture.

Practical information: Cat day KattenGedragsAdviesbureau. Saturday 29 september, from 09.00 to 18.00. All lectures will be in Dutch. Location: Alleman, Den Bloeyenden Wijngaert 1, 1183 JM Amstelveen. Registration fee: 75 euro. To register: click here.

2 Lectures on international seminar at Foundation AAP

On Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 October AnimalConcepts and Foundation AAP will present the seminar Animal Welfare: Emotion, Cognition and Behaviour. Besides myself there will be 3 other speakers: The British/American ethologist Jonathan Balcombe, Department Chair for Animal Studies of the Humane Society University in Washington D.C. and author of multiple books among which the great book Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good. He will give 3 lectures, one about the subject of the book I just mentioned, “The Inner Lives of Animals,” and “Think or Swim: The Inner Lives of Fishes.” Psychologist Charlotte Post will present the lecture “Useful functions of anthropomorphism.” Finally, psychologist Sabrina Brando, owner of AnimalConcepts, will give the lecture “Perception & Words.” A guided tour of the Foundation AAP animal sanctuary is also part of the programme and each day will end with a panel discussion.

Description: The two lectures that I will give are the following. In “Language research with nonhuman animals” I will give a review of the results of all language studies with nonhuman animals, which already take place for more than a century now. I will present the spoken language experiments with great apes, the sign language studies with great apes (including my own research), the projects in which bonobos and chimpanzees communicate with lexigrams (arbritrary symbols), the studies with dolphins and sealions on their understanding of commands given by human gestures, the work with the grey parrot Alex and his ability to speak human words and to use these to describe objects and finally the recent language research with dogs: border collie dogs who can understand hundreds of human words for objects and the Brazilian dog Sofia who uses lexigrams to indicate what she wants. The second lecture that I will give is “Linguistic humans vs. nonlinguistic animals: A moral divide?” and will tackle the question whether the capacity for language is of relevance to our ethics toward nonhuman animals. The theories of the philosophers R.G. Frey and Peter Carruthers about language and ethics will be discussed, as well as the way in which the Great Ape Project has used the results of language research with great apes in its moral argumentation. I will argue that the presence or absence of language and other cognitive abilities should not have moral consequences and by a discussion of Gary Francione’s work I will show that the capacity for sentience or (phenomenal) consciousness is a sufficient condition for moral equality among animals.

Practical information: Seminar Animal Welfare: Emotion, Cognition and Behaviour. Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 October, from 09.00 to 17.00. Location: Stichting AAP, Almere. Registration fee: 125 euro, for students 95 euro. The whole seminar will be given in English. Registration: AnimalConcepts website.

Lecture for The tower of Babel course, Hovo Groningen

From October 11 to November 22 the Higher Education for Older People (Hoger Onderwijs Voor Ouderen – Hovo) Groningen is organizing the course The tower of Babel – Language, communication and culture. It will consist of lectures by multiple speakers who will discuss all kinds of subjects regarding language and its origins.

Description: On Thursday 18 October I will give the lecture “Language in animals? Communication and language research with animals.” Contents: The question whether other animals than humans have language is being studied by closer examination of the natural communication of nonhuman animals and language research with these animals. Studies of the various alarm calls of vervet monkeys and prairie dogs show that the capacity for reference exists in animal communication. Birdsong, like human language, is learned and contains a phonological form of syntax. Language research with great apes has shown that the apes are able to understand symbols, but that they don’t combine these meaningfully and predominantly use them to acquire things from humans. Recent research with border collie dogs confirms that they can understand hundreds of human words. Especially the presence of grammar and syntax distinguishes human language from animal communication.

Practical information: HOVO Groningen. Thursday 18 October, from 15.30 to 16.30. To attend this lecture, you need to register for the whole course. Registration is open for people of 50 years and older. All lectures are given in Dutch. Registration fee: 145 euro. Registration: website of the Seniorenacademie Hovo Groningen.

Communication and language in animals course Hovo Brabant

From October 26 to November 30 I will give a course of 6 lectures called Communication and Language in Animals for the Higher Education for Older People (Hovo) Brabant, location Eindhoven. For this course too, only people of 50 years or older can register.

Description: In the first lesson we will discuss the definitions and characteristics of communication and human language. We will look at animal communication and ask the question whether animals only communicate their passions and emotions, or whether they can also refer to things and situations in the outside world. The second class will be about the calls and songs of birds. In what way do the songs of songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds share similarities with human language? The songs of humpback whales will also be presented. The third lesson will be about the natural communication of great apes (facial expressions, vocalisations and gestures). The fourth lesson will present the language research carried out with great apes. Attempts to teach chimpanzees and other apes spoken words and signs will be discussed. In the fifth lesson my own research with signing chimpanzees will be presented and we will discuss the work with the bonobo Kanzi and his use of geometric symbols or lexigrams. In the last lesson the language research with dolphins, sealions, parrots and dogs will be discussed. The parrot Alex and his use of human words will be presented, as well as the recent studies with border collie dogs, who appear to understand hundreds of human words for toys.

Practical information: Hovo Brabant, location Eindhoven. Friday afternoons, from 13.00 to 14.45. The dates of the course: 26 October, and 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 November 2012. Registration fee: 151 euro. To register for this course, go to the website of HOVO Brabant.

3 lecture evenings at Healthcare-Academy Den Hoek

In November I will give three lectures on a Thursday evening at the educational institute of Eric Laarakker, the Healthcare-Academy Den Hoek in De Bilt.

Description: First lecture: On Thursday November 1 I will give the lecture Recent research on the intelligence of dogs, cats, and horses. I will discuss the recent scientific studies on the intelligence or cognition of these animals. In the past 18 years many new and exciting studies on this subject have been carried out at the universities of Leipzig, Budapest and all over the world. Subjects that I will present are a.o.: communication and language research, knowledge about the physical world (object permanence, counting, understanding of gravity) and social intelligence: understanding of what humans see, hear and know, learning through observation, understanding of human communicative signals, and empathy. The emphasis of the lecture will be on dogs, given that most recent studies are carried out with dogs.

Second lecture: Thursday November 15: Consciousness and emotions in animals. In this lecture I will address the question whether other animals have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language (Bermond, Carruthers). In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals. I will also discuss the various emotions of animals. What emotions do they have? Which animals seem to mourn deceased conspecifics? And what has come out of research on empathy in animals?

Third lecture: Thursday November 29: Introduction to animal ethics. In this lecture I will give a review of the most important schools of thought in animal ethics. After a short introduction to philosophy and ethics and the history of moral thought about nonhuman animals, the most important current philosophers will be presented: Peter Singer and his utilitarian ethics of animal liberation. Tom Regan, who argues for animal rights from a deontological perspective. Philosophers who argue that the presence of sentience or consciousness is sufficient condition for moral consideration, such as Gary Francione. Philosophers who make a moral distinction between humans and other animals based on the capacity for language (Frey, Carruthers). Feminist animal ethics which looks at animals with the concepts of care and dialogue. And finally, deep ecology, in which humans and other animals are part of the biosphere.

Practical information: Healthcare-Academy Den Hoek. Thursday 1, 15 en 29 November, from 19.30 tot 22.30. All lectures will be in Dutch. Location: Bisschopsweg 2, 3732 HW De Bilt. Registration fee: 45 euro for each lecture. Registration for all three lectures will get you a discount of 15 euro. Registration through the website of Healthcare-Academy Den Hoek.

Lecture on symposium on consciousness and emotions in animals

On Saturday November 24 the Studygroup of Complementary working Veterinarians (Studiegroep Complementair werkende Dierenartsen) in cooperation with the Royal Dutch Society for Veterinary Science (Koninklijke Nederlandse Maatschappij voor Diergeneeskunde) will organize the symposium Animals in 3D: consciousness, emotions and language in animals (Dieren in 3D: bewustzijn, emoties en taal bij dieren). Besides myself several of the other speakers are: Maarten Frankenhuis “Love dissected” and Frauke Ohl “Emotions and consciousness in rats and mice.”

Description: My contribution has as its title Humans are not the only animals with consciousness (Mensen zijn niet de enige dieren met bewustzijn). In this lecture I will address the question whether other animals have the ability to experience things like pain and pleasure. Are animals robots without subjective experiences or do animals experience sensations and other things in a phenomenally conscious way? The French philosopher René Descartes claimed that nonhuman animals could not be conscious. Behaviorism in psychology also led to a taboo on the subject of consciousness in general. Even today there are still scholars who do not ascribe consciousness to animals, often based on the absence of ‘higher’ cognitive abilities and language (Bermond, Carruthers). In contrast are positions that argue for the presence of consciousness in animals by argueing from analogy, using systematic analyses of the nervous systems and behaviours of animals.

Practical information: Symposium Dieren in 3D: bewustzijn, emoties en taal bij dieren, organized by the SCwD and the KNMvD. Saturday 24 November, from 08.50 to 17.00. Location: Androclus building, Diergeneeskunde, Utrecht University. Registration fee: 45 euro. All lectures are in Dutch. Register through the website of the Royal Dutch Society for Veterinary Science.

Lecture on Langauge research with animals in Wageningen

On December 11 I will give a lecture about language research with nonhuman animals for the People’s University in Wageningen and students of Schoolcommunity Pantarijn. The lecture is open to anyone interested.

Description: Scientists have studied all kinds of animals to see what they can learn of the human language. Great apes can use signs or geometric symbols to communicate with humans. Dolphins and sealions can carry out commands that humans give them in the form of gestures. The parrot Alex can name all kinds of objects by using human words. And border collie dogs can understand hundreds of words for toys and other objects. In this lecture a review is given of the results of these language studies and an answer will be given to the question whether humans are the only creatures with language.

Practical information: Tuesday December 11, from 16.00 to 18.00. Location: Scholengemeenschap Pantarijn, Hollandseweg 7-9 te Wageningen. Registration fee: 12 euro. Registration: click here.