The Communicative Mind - Richard Moore

This collection of cuddly apes represents The Communicative Mind project, launched in 2020 under a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship awarded to Warwick philosopher Professor Richard Moore. The project explores why humans, unlike other great apes, acquire language. Challenging the standard view that Theory of Mind (ToM) explains language development, Moore argues the reverse: that language—specifically syntax—and its cultural evolution enable ToM. Drawing on Philosophy, Linguistics, and Psychology, the project investigates how uniquely human cognitive traits emerge through communicative interaction. Some key insights: Our ability to think about minds is not biologically inherited, but culturally learned through language. Prior to language development, humans and other great apes are more similar than many suppose. Crucial differences in our social cognition can be explained not by adaptations in the recent hominin lineage, but by subtle shifts in human social attention.