Donald R. Griffin’s Question of Animal Awareness
Abstract
Donald R. Griffin’s scientific contributions and his influential role in advancing animal cognition research are described, particularly his controversial proposal that many animals may be conscious. Griffin’s views, the tenets of his new field of Cognitive Ethology, challenged established scientific thinking and had far-reaching effects in biology, psychology, philosophy, and animal welfare. Griffin also created the field of echolocation and conducted landmark studies of avian navigation. His efforts revealed complex animal abilities.
Keywords: cognitive ethology, Donald Griffin, animal consciousness, mind, cognition
This essay provides context for other commentaries in this issue. Further information is available in a longer version published with Commentaries in Animal Sentience (Ristau, 2024b), in my book about Griffin and related history of science (Ristau, 2024a), and from a video interview (Walter Veit, 2024).