Mind is considered in terms of contents or processes or both. The term usually includes both conscious and unconscious events. In the case of the term animal mind, there is intense scientific and philosophical disagreement as to whether animal minds are unconscious or can include conscious events as well. In particular, even among scientists who may accede to the possibility of animal consciousness, there is great reluctance to consider the issue as amenable to scientific study. Donald R. Griffin is a particularly notable exception, who has made the issue a focus of his scientific attention.

Overview of Philosophical and Scientific History

Concerns that still strongly engage philosophers and psychologists to this day were raised by the opposing ideas of John Locke (1632–1704) and Rene Descartes (1596–1650). In Locke's accounting, the elements of mind are ideas. Ideas are written by experience onto the blank slate of the mind, the...