Cognitive ethology
Encyclopedia
The fusion of cognitive science
and classical ethology
into cognitive ethology "emphasizes observing animals under more-or-less natural conditions, with the objective of understanding the evolution, adaptation (function), causation, and development of the species-specific behavioral repertoire" - (Niko Tinbergen 1963).
According to Jamieson & Bekoff (1993), "Tinbergen's four questions about the evolution, adaptation, causation and development of behavior can be applied to the cognitive and mental abilities of animals." Yoerg & Kamil relate these to human cognitive psychology
. Allen & Bekoff (1997, chapter 5) attempt to show how cognitive ethology can take on the central questions of cognitive science, taking as their starting point the four questions described by Barbara Von Eckardt in her 1993 book What is Cognitive Science?, generalizing the four questions and adding a fifth:
The fifth questions "biological functions, the selective history, and current adaptiveness of a behavioral trait which must be answered within an evolutionary and comparative framework." Here the field dovetails with biosemiotics
to become zoosemiotics.
to the natural experience of beings in their environment. For instance, to explain the relationships and constants in Euler's identity by way of reference to motion and perception, e.g. pi as descriptive of the space swept out by an arm.
The notion that non-human conceptions of mathematics
might be the only way to apprehend the objective meaning of mathematical constructs is not controversial, nor is teaching chimpanzee
s or gorilla
s to do basic arithmetic for rewards.
thinking in seeing animal experience as worthy in itself.
Ethicist
Peter Singer
is an example of a "proponent" in this sense, as is biologist E. O. Wilson
who coined the term biophilia
to describe the basis of a direct moral cognition, that 'higher' animals would use to perceive moral implication in the environment directly.
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
and classical ethology
Ethology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
into cognitive ethology "emphasizes observing animals under more-or-less natural conditions, with the objective of understanding the evolution, adaptation (function), causation, and development of the species-specific behavioral repertoire" - (Niko Tinbergen 1963).
Relation to psychology
Cognitive ethology is more compatible with evolutionary psychology than with experimental laboratory psychology. "The idea that one might learn anything of biological interest about an animal by isolating it in a box and bombarding it with artificial stimuli," in particular, is what cognitive ethology seeks to challenge.According to Jamieson & Bekoff (1993), "Tinbergen's four questions about the evolution, adaptation, causation and development of behavior can be applied to the cognitive and mental abilities of animals." Yoerg & Kamil relate these to human cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology
Cognitive psychology is a subdiscipline of psychology exploring internal mental processes.It is the study of how people perceive, remember, think, speak, and solve problems.Cognitive psychology differs from previous psychological approaches in two key ways....
. Allen & Bekoff (1997, chapter 5) attempt to show how cognitive ethology can take on the central questions of cognitive science, taking as their starting point the four questions described by Barbara Von Eckardt in her 1993 book What is Cognitive Science?, generalizing the four questions and adding a fifth:
Relation to biology
- For a normal, typical member of the species, what precisely is the capacity to _____?
- In virtue of what does a normal, typical member of the species have the capacity to _____ such that the capacity is (a) intentional, (b) pragmatically evaluable, (c) coherent, (d) reliable, and (e) productive?
- How does a normal, typical member of the species typically (exercise his or her capacity to) _____?
- How does the capacity to _____ of the normal, typical member of the species interact with the rest of his or her cognitive capacities?
- Why do members of the species typically have the capacity to _____?
The fifth questions "biological functions, the selective history, and current adaptiveness of a behavioral trait which must be answered within an evolutionary and comparative framework." Here the field dovetails with biosemiotics
Biosemiotics
Biosemiotics is a growing field that studies the production, action and interpretation of signs in the biological realm...
to become zoosemiotics.
Relation to mathematics
The cognitive science of mathematics is an attempt to relate the philosophy of mathematicsPhilosophy of mathematics
The philosophy of mathematics is the branch of philosophy that studies the philosophical assumptions, foundations, and implications of mathematics. The aim of the philosophy of mathematics is to provide an account of the nature and methodology of mathematics and to understand the place of...
to the natural experience of beings in their environment. For instance, to explain the relationships and constants in Euler's identity by way of reference to motion and perception, e.g. pi as descriptive of the space swept out by an arm.
The notion that non-human conceptions of mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
might be the only way to apprehend the objective meaning of mathematical constructs is not controversial, nor is teaching chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s or gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
s to do basic arithmetic for rewards.
Relation to ethics
Bekoff, M and Allen, C (1997) "identify three major groups of people (among some of whose members there are blurred distinctions) with different views on cognitive ethology, namely, slayers, skeptics, and proponents." The latter seemingly convergent with animal rightsAnimal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
thinking in seeing animal experience as worthy in itself.
Ethicist
Ethicist
An ethicist is one whose judgment on ethics and ethical codes has come to be trusted by a specific community, and is expressed in some way that makes it possible for others to mimic or approximate that judgement...
Peter Singer
Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...
is an example of a "proponent" in this sense, as is biologist E. O. Wilson
E. O. Wilson
Edward Osborne Wilson is an American biologist, researcher , theorist , naturalist and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants....
who coined the term biophilia
Biophilia Hypothesis
The biophilia hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book entitled Biophilia.- Love of living systems :...
to describe the basis of a direct moral cognition, that 'higher' animals would use to perceive moral implication in the environment directly.
See also
- Animal cognitionAnimal cognitionAnimal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...
- AnthropomorphismAnthropomorphismAnthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
- Cognitive moduleCognitive moduleA cognitive module is, in theories of the modularity of mind and the closely related society of mind theory, a specialised tool or sub-unit that can be used by other parts to resolve cognitive tasks. The question of their existence and nature is a major topic in cognitive science and evolutionary...
- Feral childFeral childA feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language...
- NeuroanthropologyNeuroanthropologyNeuroanthropology is the study of culture and the brain. This field explores how new findings in the brain sciences help us understand the interactive effects of culture and biology on human development and behavior...
Sources
- Philosophy of Cognitive Ethology, Colin Allen, Texas A&M University
- Cognitive ethology: slayers, skeptics and proponents