Animal Rationality and Belief

Moderate differentialists like Aristotle and Kant credited animals with “lower” mental/psychic phenomena like sentience, emotions, moods and perception, while denying the “higher” faculties of intellect and reason, including the capacity for genuine belief. In the same vein, Sellars (1957), Davidson (1985), Brandom (1994) and McDowell (1996) grant sentience or consciousness, while balking at intentional states like belief and desire. Against this stance, I shall rebut a priori philosophical objections against the idea of intentionality in animals, and present positive arguments in its favor.