“When we imagine what it is like to be a languageless creature, we start, naturally, from our own experience, and most of what then springs to mind has to be adjusted (mainly downward). The sort of consciousness such animals enjoy is dramatically truncated, compared to ours. A bat, for instance, not only can’t wonder whether it’s Friday; it can’t even wonder whether it’s a bat; there is no role for wondering to play in its cognitive structure.”
Daniel Clement Dennett, Consciousness Explained
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
An ArtsJournal Blog