Susana Monsó

Susana Monsó is a Spanish philosopher who is based at the National University of Distance Education in Madrid. She is an authority on the philosophy of animal minds, and on animal ethics. She is best known for her writings on comparative thanatology.

Monsó was born in Madrid in 1988.[1] She studied Philosophy at Complutense University of Madrid, then received an MA in Global Ethics and Human Values from King’s College London, where her MA thesis was supervised by Leif Wenar.[2] She wrote her PhD in Philosophy at UNED in Madrid, although it was externally co-supervised by Mark Rowlands at the University of Miami.[3] Monsó's thesis addressed the question of whether animals could be moral agents given their limited understanding of others' minds. It argued that moral agency is possible for creatures who possess empathy, which does not require an understanding of mental states.[4]

Monsó has written extensively on the question of whether animals understand death.[5][6][7][8] Her book on this subject, La zarigüeya de Schrödinger: Cómo viven y entienden la muerte los animales, was published in Spanish in 2021 (Plaza y Valdés).[5] An English version of the book, translated by Monsó and with a new introduction, was published under the title Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death by Princeton University Press in 2024.[6] Monsó argues that there are good reasons to think that animals possess at least a 'minimal concept of death', grounded in the idea of a permanent loss of function. She argues that those who deny that animals could understand death typically do so because they hold a mistaken, intellectualised conception of what understanding death requires.[6][8]

Monsó's work has been profiled in the New York Times,[9] The Boston Globe,[10] The Observer,[11] Der Spiegel,[12] Der Zeit,[13] and El País,[14] among others newspapers. In 2024 Playing Possum was featured in books of the year lists published by The Guardian,[15] the New Statesman,[16] and The New Yorker.[17]

Selected publications

  • Melis, G. & Monsó, S. (2024): ‘Are humans the only rational animals?’ The Philosophical Quarterly, 74 (3), 844–864.
  • Monsó, S. (2024): Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death (updated and revised translation). Princeton University Press.[18]
  • Monsó, S. (2022): ‘How to tell if animals can understand death.’ Erkenntnis, 87, 117–136.
  • Monsó, S. (2021): La zarigüeya de Schrödinger: Cómo viven y entienden la muerte los animales. Madrid: Plaza y Valdés.[19]
  • Monsó, S. (2017): ‘Morality without mindreading.’ Mind & Language, 32 (3), 338–57.
  • Monsó, S. (2015): ‘Empathy and morality in behaviour readers.’ Biology & Philosophy, 30 (5), 671-690.

References

  1. ^ "About me". Susana Monsó. 2018-07-16. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  2. ^ "CV". Susana Monsó. 2018-07-17. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  3. ^ "CV". 17 July 2018.
  4. ^ Monsó, Susana (2017). "Morality Without Mindreading". Mind & Language. 32 (3): 338–357. doi:10.1111/mila.12146. ISSN 1468-0017.
  5. ^ a b Editores, Plaza y Valdés. "LA ZARIGÜEYA DE SCHRÖDINGER". www.plazayvaldes.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  6. ^ a b c "Playing Possum | Princeton University Press". press.princeton.edu. 2024-10-15. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  7. ^ Monsó, Susana (2022-02-01). "How to Tell If Animals Can Understand Death". Erkenntnis. 87 (1): 117–136. doi:10.1007/s10670-019-00187-2. ISSN 1572-8420. PMC 8789628. PMID 35125561.
  8. ^ a b "Animals wrestle with the concept of death and mortality | Aeon Essays". Aeon. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  9. ^ "What Ants and Orcas Can Teach Us About Death". The New York Times. 29 October 2024.
  10. ^ Scharfenberg, David (October 10, 2024). "How whales grieve, why dogs eat their owners, and other tales of death in the animal kingdom". The Boston Globe.
  11. ^ Bains, Callum (6 October 2024). "'Elephants show immense interest in corpses': Susana Monsó, the philosopher examining what animals know about death". The Guardian.
  12. ^ Kiel, Viola (30 October 2021). "(S+) Thanatose: Warum sich Opossums tot stellen – und was man daraus lernen kann". Der Spiegel.
  13. ^ Schweiger, Denise (2025-04-20). "Susana Monsó: "Vor lauter Verzweiflung beginnt der Hund zu knabbern"". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  14. ^ Arranz, Jon Gurutz (2023-07-05). "Susana Monsó, philosopher: 'Studying how animals experience death helps us to naturalize our own grief'". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 2025-09-23.
  15. ^ "The best books to give as gifts this Christmas". The Guardian. 8 December 2024.
  16. ^ "Books of the year 2024". 13 November 2024.
  17. ^ "The Best Books of 2024". The New Yorker. 24 January 2024.
  18. ^ Szalai, Jennifer (2024-10-23). "What Do Animals Know About Death? (Published 2024)". Retrieved 2025-10-23.
  19. ^ Review of La zarigüeya de Schrödinger
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