POV Lecture 9: How Animals Remember?

How Animals Remember? Unravelling the philosophical puzzles surrounding the science of non-human minds

Dogs who seem to remember moments. Crows who recognise faces. Birds who hide food and find it months later. Cuttlefish who choose meals based on what they ate yesterday.

It all looks surprisingly human, doesn’t it? But what if this isn’t about animals becoming more like us, but about us learning to see memory differently?

In the next Pint of View lecture, Simon Brown, philosopher of cognitive science and Assistant Professor at Ashoka University, invites us into the quiet and complex world of non-human minds.

Drawing from contemporary research and centuries of philosophical debate, Simon explores how scientists and thinkers have tried to understand episodic memory, the vivid and story-like recall of past experiences, and whether animals might possess their own versions of it.

Do animals need a sense of self to remember? Does memory require an inner narrator? Or have we been defining memory too narrowly, trapped inside the architecture of the human mind?

Expect an evening where philosophy meets neuroscience, and where rats, crows, dogs and cuttlefish become unlikely guides into the mysteries of cognition.

A conversation that blends science, ethics and imagination, and perhaps makes us rethink what it means to have a mind at all. Because once you start asking how animals remember, you inevitably begin asking what memory really is.

It is an evening where questions linger, ideas shimmer and the world around us feels a little more alive, pint in hand.

What to Expect

🐾 A 45-minute journey into the science and philosophy of animal memory, from labs to living rooms

💬 A 15-minute Q&A exploring how different species might experience time, emotion and recollection

🍺 One beer or your favourite mocktail on the house, because ideas go down smoother with a drink in hand

🥨 À la carte food available throughout the evening

✨ Conversations and one-on-one with the speaker post-talk

Event Details

📅 Sunday, 30 November 2025

🕔 4 PM to 6 PM

📍 Pint Room, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi

About the Expert

Simon Brown is a philosopher of cognitive science and an Assistant Professor at Ashoka University. Originally from the UK, he studied at Oxford and Columbia and has held research positions at Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics. His work focuses on interpreting the science of animal minds and understanding what it reveals about memory, cognition and human ethical responsibility toward other species.

About Pint of View

Inspired by the successful Lectures on Tap community in the US, Pint of View brings this format to India for the very first time. It is where big ideas meet bar tables, and where you walk out with a drink in hand and a new way of seeing the world.

Note: Alcohol will be served only to guests aged 25 and above. Mocktails and non-alcoholic options will be available. Attendance implies consent to being filmed for event coverage.