Can the concepts of Umwelt and Telos help us to understand our horses better?

Anyone who has engaged with my posts, podcasts or research articles will likely have heard me use the word umwelt to convey the idea that we need to try and understand the world from the horses perspective, intentions and lived experience.

In my podcast with Bonny Mealand and Emily Kieson, Bonny used the term telos and I thought it would be useful to expand on what both these terms mean and why they are important in helping us to move away from an anthropomorphic perspective and toward a greater understanding of the experiences of our horses as horses.

Listen to my podcast with Bonny and Emily (The importance of agency and relationships: A conversation about enhancing the wellbeing of our horses with Bonny Mealand and Emily Kieson).

The concepts of umwelt and telos originate from different fields of study and have distinct meanings.

Umwelt:

Umwelt, a term popularised by biologist Jakob von Uexküll, refers to the unique subjective world experienced by an organism based on its sensory capabilities and interactions with the environment.

It emphasises the idea that different species perceive and interact with their surroundings in unique ways shaped by their sensory organs, cognitive abilities, and behavioural predispositions, and intentions. While an individual’s Umwelt is influenced by its evolution as a species, it is also shaped by individual experience and learning.

For example, the umwelt of a bee includes perceptions of ultraviolet light and patterns of polarised light, which are crucial for finding nectar and communicating with other bees through dance language. Where are bee lives and how it interacts with other bees will influence individuals. The umwelt concept highlights the diversity of sensory worlds and the importance of understanding an organism’s perspective to comprehend its behaviour and ecological role.

How does Umwelt relate to affordance perception?

Umwelt refers to the specific perceptual world experienced by an organism, shaped by its sensory capacities and biological needs. From a Gibsonian perspective in ecological psychology, affordance perception relates to how an organism perceives its environment in terms of potential actions or interactions it can undertake. The link between umwelt and affordance perception lies in the idea that an organism’s sensory modalities and biological makeup determine which affordances are relevant. For example, a horse might perceive a fence as an obstacle to navigate, while a bird might see it as a perch. Thus, the umwelt influences how different species interpret their surroundings, highlighting that perception is not merely a passive reception of stimuli but an active engagement with an environment rich in meaning based on individual capabilities and ecological contexts.

Telos:

Telos, derived from ancient Greek philosophy, refers to the inherent purpose, goal, or end towards which something naturally tends. It is often associated with teleology, the study of purpose or design in nature.

In teleological thinking, phenomena are interpreted in terms of their final causes or intended outcomes. For instance, in Aristotelian thought, the telos of an acorn is to become an oak tree. Telos can also be applied to human actions and institutions, such as the telos of education being the cultivation of knowledge and critical thinking skills.

The concept of telos raises questions about intentionality, design, and the underlying purposes that shape the behaviour and development of organisms and systems.

In summary, while both concepts explore aspects of purpose and perception, umwelt focuses on the subjective sensory worlds of organisms and how they perceive their environments, whereas telos examines inherent goals or purposes guiding the behaviour and development of entities in nature.