Just Looking ...

I’ve been trying to connect notions of Zizek/Lacanian Real/reality in some way to what I’m learning in my animal cognition seminar. Essentially, the main theme in the seminar is whether or not animals have theory of mind – are they able to attribute intentions in other individuals, are they able to take their perspective, know what they think, etc. This sparked a huge debate between two main schools of thought. On one hand, the behaviourists have trouble accepting that animals may exhibit any semblance of theory of mind. On the other, the 'mentalists' believe that the easiest way to explain animal behaviour is that they are indeed able to 'get into the minds' of other animals. Seemingly deceptive behaviour may illustrate this distinction. Male baboons are known to do much of the hunting for meat, and do not typically share. One female edged up to the male, and groomed him until he laid down on the ground, at which point she grabbed his antelope carcass and ran. Mentalists would suggest that the female baboon had a clear intention to deceive the male, that she meant to 'mislead' the male. However, behaviourists would name many other alternatives. It could've been a coincidence that she was grooming him, then grabbed the carcass after noticing it. More likely, she had some prior associative learning where she may have had multiple attempts to steal food disregarding the conspecific's posture (so she most likely failed on these attempts). Then finally by chance, she succeeded in stealing food when the other baboon was lying down. She could've formed an associative relation between snatching food and award, which is most likely activated by the sight of an animal that is lying down on the ground.

I think I've gone a bit off topic. But the key points of interest here are the motivations behind these two intellectual groups. Is this an example of a group of people, the behaviourists, being fascinated by the Real? Are animals, to them, objet petit a? Perhaps they are so devoted to their research because of a suspicion that underneath it all, we are exactly like animals. Their desires may be coordinated by the Real, such that they want to return to the Real stage where we are 'at one' with the world, where we are ultimately the same as animals, where 'ultimate happiness' may be, like for the baboon, simply a matter of finding a piece of meat. At the same time though, this notion may be terrifying. The possibility that we are merely automatons, without intention, may be what is driving the mentalists to seek out evidence that animals have theory of mind.

This is starting to sound overly speculative and I may be misapplying the concepts here...so please feel free to add anything or to correct me.