Location: online via Zoom
Time: 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Dr. Hanna Schleihauf (Social and Behavioural Sciences & Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University)

Are humans the only rational animals? A search for clues in children and chimpanzees

Since Aristotle, it has been claimed that humans are the only rational animals—and that it is precisely rationality that distinguishes them from animals. In my research, I explore this assumption by investigating how children and our closest relatives, chimpanzees, seek, interpret, and pass on information—in other words, precisely those cognitive processes that are considered the core of rational thinking. This comparative perspective helps us understand which aspects of rational thinking are deeply rooted in evolution – and which have probably only developed to their full extent in humans. In my lecture, I will present studies that reveal similarities and differences in rational thinking between humans and animals – and that encourage us to reflect on what actually makes us human.