Methodology for step 1

We will first synthesise the available literature, both in philosophy and in biology, and carry out a scientific monitoring on animal agency and animal inventiveness. This will involve a preliminary data-mining task on the occurrences of the term ‘agency’, as well as discussions with biologists on their understanding of the concept. Concerning inventiveness, research in animal behaviour has mainly focused on innovations. As a result, the non-successful inventions reported have often not been subject to measurement.
Part of the research will consist of retrieving inventions even in those articles that merely mention them. To do so, we will select articles that report behaviours described as ‘new’ given the behaviours of the group under study, typical behaviours used in new situations, or existing behaviours whose structure, chronological sequence, or social context is altered.

This step will consist of reading [R], and organising the data [O], which, in this case, usually result from anecdotal records.
I will then formulate some hypotheses [H] on the process of invention in non-human animals.
I will also discuss my findings with researchers [D] both in ethology and in philosophy, thanks to several events organised throughout the research.
[R], [O] and [D] will contribute to enrich the 5th process – thinking [T] – in which the philosophical researcher makes an idiosyncratic contribution to theoretical reflection.

The aim is to distinguish invention from innovation, behavioural flexibility, and problem solving, and identify the parameters structuring the process of invention (the conditions under which invention emerges, the characteristics of inventors, the structural connection between inventions and the behaviours already present in the repertoire).