Susana Monsó

Interested in doing a PhD in philosophy of animal minds in lovely Murcia? We have just published a call for expressions of interest to do a PhD as part of our research project on ecological validity in comparative cognitive science. Please consider applying if this is up your street!

Reminder that we are offering this really cool opportunity. The deadline for expressions of interest is October 31!

Why care about weird animal behaviors? Just out as an advanced publication, my contribution to the next Frans de Waal special issue in Behaviour @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. Unusual behaviors are a recurring theme in my career, and I much enjoyed writing this perspective! doi.org/10.1163/1568...

Good news/bad news. PAMBA people now number over 400! But this means we can no longer use Mailchimp to send free emails. Join the new PAMBA Google Group to say up to date with the Philosophy of Animal Minds! groups.google.com/g/pambalist

Dear @susanamonso.com, congrats for an absolutely brilliant (and fundamentally antispeciesist) book, demonstrating what we felt to be true - so many animals know of death too It’s also REALLY FUN to read and reminded me of Safina’s « Becoming wild » -

A wonderful new resource for those wanting to explore the philosophical debates on animal minds!

📣🎓 Open #PhD Position (3.5 years) 🎓📣 Want to come work with me on culture and social bonds in apes? 🐵 Apply to join my new group in the @livingingroups.bsky.social at @mpi-animalbehav.bsky.social. Full job posting: imprs-qbee.mpg.de/131133/cultu... Deadline 📅 23 October 2026 Please share widely!

I’ve just been named subject editor for the new “Animal ethics” area in the SEP, following my complaint that there are too few articles on this topic (serves me right for complaining). So stay tuned for new entries in the area, and hit me up with suggestions on topics that you think merit one!

Had fun doing this interview for the @science.org podcast on the short column I wrote for them on the value of philosophy for science.

1/17 Body awareness in cockatoos For the first time, we have adapted the “body-as-an-obstacle” task to birds, a paradigm originally designed to study the development of body awareness in children. (paper) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited BEYOND MEASURE for @edyong209.bsky.social’s new book!!

PAMBA 2027 April 27-29 at Warwick. Join us for bluebells, a castle walk, and great talks! Keynotes: Heather Browning @zoophilosophy.bsky.social Cameron Buckner @cameronbuckner.bsky.social Stephen Butterfill Paco Calvo Garzon Marta Halina @martahalina.bsky.social Susana Monsó @susanamonso.com

This is going to be awesome.

🚨 PhD position in human, nonhuman primate, and/or dog cognition! I am thrilled to be reviewing applicants this year for a new PhD student to join the Social & Cognitive Origins Group in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins @jhu.edu @jhuartssciences.bsky.social 1/

PAMBA Call For Papers and PAMBA Prize announcement coming soon! April 27-29, 2027 at Warwick. Save the date!

This is a real photo from 1913. It hasn’t been colorized. It was made using a technique called the Autochrome Lumière which captured true color using microscopic dyed starch grains as color filters, decades before color film existed. Pretty incredible, no? More below 👇

We have a new little paper out: an introduction to the philosophy of comparative psychology. If you're tired of artificial intelligences, you can read about biological ones instead.

Excited to announce KINDRED -- first-hand stories about chimpanzees like Chiffon and Eli who opened my eyes to their inner worlds and inspired their protection. Endorsed by the late Dr. Jane Goodall. 🧵 (1/2)

It's a traditionally neglected, but now rapidly growing, subfield of philosophy of science. I am currently writing a book on the philosophy of the geosciences that gives introduction, but in meantime I can recommend this survey paper by two members of my #PhiGeo research group

📣Este martes, @susanamonso.com dará la conferencia inaugural del Grado en Filosofía de la Universidad de La Laguna (Tenerife) con la ponencia “Juegos animales”!

The website of our research project is live! We will be announcing soon a call for expressions of interest to do a PhD with us. Stay tuned!

I wrote a little something on the value of philosophy for animal cognition. Out now in Science’s Expert Voices column.

Fabulous new entry for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy just dropped! 🐝🐵 🐘🐠Animal Normativity 🦌🐶🦜🐬https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/animal-normativity/ authored by @simonfitzpatrick.bsky.social

A proposition to all analytic philosophers (and likeminded theorists): PSUAFE because IIVAFR and IMTWRDI. Where: PSUAFE = Please stop using acronyms for everything. IIVAFR = It is very annoying for readers. IMTWRDI = It makes them want to read Derrida instead.

I have had the privilege to read a full draft of @kristinandrews.bsky.social’s new book on animal cultures and BOY are you all in for a TREAT!!

Join us in Vienna! We are looking for a #PhD student and a #Postdoc to investigate #innovation in great #apes: PhD ad: share.eva.mpg.de/index.php/s/... Postdoc ad: share.eva.mpg.de/index.php/s/... Application deadline: August 17th. Please share widely!

Hiding from LA heat with @susanamonso.com’s fascinating book PLAYING POSSUM. (Research for novel 4) Highly recommend! Very accessible to the general reader.

Would chimpanzees or bonobos huddle before a penalty shootout in the World Cup? 🐵⚽ In both species, reassuring body contact promotes social tolerance, read more in our new study led by Jake Brooker out now in @royalsociety.org Proc B. (doi.org/10.1098/rspb...) A thread of the main findings 🧵 (1/10)

The Cognition Group in the Psychology dept at Exeter are at risk of redundancy because "basic cognitive psychology research does not align with the current priorities of funding bodies" If you think this is overtly wrong and misguided, please sign this open letter docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Every kind of crappy reasoning in just one (free!) clickbait article. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

My book Playing Possum has been nominated for the German Wissensbuch des Jahres (non-fiction book of the year) award! If you think it deserves to win, you can vote for it here under the category Überraschung. Thank you kindly 😇

What a magnificient topic! And delightful book. Best use of conceptual analysis I have seen in years. Thank you @susanamonso.com

Welp. It finally happened. Found a reference to a non-existent paper of mine in a manuscript I was reviewing.

We have an exciting new position in our group for a PhD on parrot innovation !!! The position will be part of our new @fwf-at.bsky.social Emerging Fields project with @barbaraklump.bsky.social , @mohara.bsky.social , @christophvoelter.bsky.social and Justus Piater. Apply & share!!

Loving the cover of the Polish edition of my book Playing Possum. Out soon!

Totally unexpected but the author of this article has now read my book and written a positive review on it.

Once upon a time, I approached biologists @biotay.bsky.social and @auersperga.bsky.social with some crazy ideas on how to test for animals’ concept of death. Many years later, our first study with the stellar cockatoos from the Goffin Lab is finally out! (More to come)

Do we perceive animacy itself, beyond its lower-level visual correlates? In @elife.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social and I leverage “visual anagrams” — images whose interpretations change with orientation — to suggest the answer is: yes! elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...