[SydPhil] 2025 Anderson Lecture #1 | Curious Animal Minds: a journey into the evolution of cognition | Oct 16, 2025

Tue Sep 30 14:06:27 AEST 2025

Dear Sydney Philosophers,

As Chair of Discipline at Sydney, I’m delighted to invite you to the first of this year’s John Anderson Lectures, to be given by Gema Martin-Ordas (University of Stirling, UK):

Curious Animal Minds: A Journey into the Evolution of Cognition

📍 Venue: Gleebooks
📅 Date: Thursday, 16 October 2025
⏰ Time: 5:45 pm doors for 6:00 pm start

If you’d like to attend, please RSVP here:
2025 Anderson Lecture in Philosophy (Humanitix)<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/mFQNCzvkyVCwRyLPBU4f6t9PiN7?domain=events.humanitix.com>

All the best,

Alex

Alexandre Lefebvre <https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/alex-lefebvre.html> | Professor of Politics and Philosophy
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences | The University of Sydney
S248 Quadrangle (A14) | 0491 672 222 | alexlefebvre.com<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/sbsNCANpgjCl9PYmos8hgtG3pVn?domain=alexlefebvre.com>

Chair, Discipline of Philosophy
Director, Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy, Political Economy, and Economics (BPPE)
New book: Liberalism as a Way of Life<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/PjehCBNqjlCRVkoZmHNint26nWk?domain=press.princeton.edu> (Princeton, 2024)

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
School of Humanities

Discipline of Philosophy
[The University of Sydney]
[Acropolis]

2025 Anderson Lectures in Philosophy

Curious animal minds: a journey into the evolution of cognition
Gema Martin-Ordas | University of Stirling (UK)
Gleebooks | 16 October 2025 | 5:45pm doors for 6:00pm start
Human intelligence is fascinating. We communicate using language, regularly cooperate with others to reach shared goals (e.g. building bridges or houses or playing symphonies), engage in abstract reasoning and scientific inquiry, and learn sophisticated cultural behaviours from others (e.g. moral rules). Why do humans possess such abilities while other animal species do not? One approach to answer this question has been to examine the roots of human intelligence by investigating intelligence across the tree of life (i.e. in other animals). Now we know that many animal species possess several complex abilities previously thought to be unique to humans. For example, chimpanzees use and create tools. A complementary approach has been to focus on the study of infants and children to investigate how intelligence emerges in development. Now we know that, for example, language plays a critical role in the emergence of human intelligence.

In this talk, Gema will combine both approaches and will take us through an evolutionary journey to shed light on whether the ability to think about the past and the future is unique to humans. She will present empirical work with vertebrates (e.g. children and great apes) and invertebrates (e.g. bees) that will contribute to answering this question and will help us reconsider our place within the animal kingdom.

ABOUT GEMA MARTIN-ORDAS:

[https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/bsoWCD1vlpTJBWP6mfZsLtjYxa2?domain=d31hzlhk6di2h5.cloudfront.net]
I am a comparative psychologist working on the evolution and development of cognition. For more than 10 years now, my work has focused on investigating whether episodic memory and future thinking are (or not) uniquely human. I lead a Comparative Cognition Laboratory at the University of Stirling where my team and I study cognition in vertebrates (e.g., children, great apes) and invertebrates (e.g., insects), with specific focus on memory and thought about the future. I have developed new methodologies to test cognition in humans and animals and I have also adapted methodologies previously used with primates to test cognition in bumblebees. Since my doctoral research, I have worked extensively to build a strong international and interdisciplinary research profile, spanning research activities across 5 different countries (Germany, Canada, Denmark, United Kingdom and Sweden) and across disciplines—from Philosophy to Environmental Sciences. Since the start of my career, I have been actively engaged with public engagement activities (e.g., public talks). My work has also had worldwide media coverage (radio and internet, e.g., Science Daily, BBC).

ABOUT THE ANDERSON FELLOWSHIPS:
Anderson Fellowships are bestowed through a bequest of the estate of John Anderson (1893-1962), an influential Australian philosopher and Challis Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney from 1927 to 1958. They fund travel to the University of Sydney for up to two distinguished fellows in philosophy each year with the aim of promoting collaboration between members of the philosophy department and leading researchers around the world.

Image: Courtesy of Gema Martin-Ordas research

Click Here to Register<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/PX4KCE8wmrt0WzPAGHZtjt7pAgu?domain=t.e2ma.net>

Venue
Gleebooks- Glebe
49 Glebe Point Road
Glebe NSW 2037
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