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Comparative Cognition
Book chapter

Comparative Cognition

Comparative Cognition
Oxford University Press
04/08/2009
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377804.003.0001

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Abstract

Natural science has succeeded in supplanting superstition and religion as explanations for countless worldly events—from eclipses and the tides to infectious diseases and the circulation of the blood. What, then, is the relevance of mentalism to the present volume, which is concerned with the intelligence of nonhuman animals? Quite simply, mentalistic accounts of animal behavior and cognition were proposed early in the history of comparative psychology by none other than Charles Darwin. This book places cognitive ethology into logical and methodological perspective and lobbies on behalf of what may be a preferable alternative to the mentalistic movement in behavioral science. The other scientific school, termed comparative cognition, counts among its growing members most of the contributors to the current volume. This introductory chapter discusses a series of central issues in the study of cognition that separate these two prominent approaches to the comparative study of human and animal intelligence.
nonhuman animals comparative cognition behavioral science animal behavior animal intelligence natural science mentalism Charles Darwin cognitive ethology

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