If the discussion on characterisation of agency is branching into animal cognition in relation to design cognition, here are a couple of relevant papers situated (in part) in design research:
Andy Dong, Emma Collier-Baker & Thomas Suddendorf (2017) Building blocks of human design thinking in animals, International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, 5:1-2, 1-15, DOI: 10.1080/21650349.2015.1011700
Abstract
Observations of animal innovations range from tool making by chimpanzees to elaborately decorated nests made by bowerbirds. Such behaviors raise fundamental questions about the differences between human design thinking and the capacity of nonhuman animals to create novel objects and environments. While none of these animal innovations are based upon what we would describe as design thinking, elements of the cognitive skills that make up design thinking may exist in other species, even if they do not exist as a complete package or to the same degree of skill as in humans. Animal innovations thus provide a unique window into human design thinking. Using a comparative approach, we discuss three cognitive skills that are likely to be fundamental to the conceptual system of human design thinking: recursion, representation, and curiosity. There is evidence of two of these capacities in nonhuman animals.
Keywords: design thinking, design cognition, animal innovation, comparative psychology.
Thomas Suddendorf and Andy Dong (2013) On the evolution of imagination and design, In Taylor, M. (ed.) The Oxford Handook of the Development of Imagination, Oxford University Press, Chapter 29, pp. 453-465
Abstract
This chapter discusses theories concerning the evolution of imagination and design. This involves a brief review of the evidence from great apes for imagining other possible worlds and a discussion what might set humans apart. The chapter also considers the functions of imagination, especially in light of the importance of constructing future scenarios and designing the world to suit our needs.
Keywords: animal cognition, creativity, design thinking, foresight, secondary representation.
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