Jakob von Uexküll (the elder)

Jakob von Uexküll (the elder) was a Baltic-German biologist and philosopher who introduced the idea that animals experience their worlds through unique perceptions and senses, which he called their "themspheres." He argued that each species perceives its environment in a way tailored to its needs and biological makeup, effectively creating a subjective universe. His work emphasizes that understanding an animal’s perspective is essential to comprehending its behavior, influencing fields like ethology, cognitive science, and philosophy by highlighting the importance of subjective experience in the study of life.