Animal Behavior

Stephen Crowley, Colin Allen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This article focuses on comparative psychology, ethology, and cognitive ethology which explain animal behaviour. The same old questions raised by ancient Greek are discussed by scientists today. Morgan's pioneer work show that a quantitative approach to the physical features of animals and their behavioral products was not beyond imagination. He believed that a scientific understanding of the mental states of animals depends on a "double inductive" process, combining inductive inferences based on observation of animal behavior with knowledge of our own minds. The ethological work concentrated on non-mammalian species. Later "cognitive ethology" was used to describe the research program which combines both cognitive science and classical ethology. The fact that emotion plays a more significant role in animal behaviour was inferred. There have been various attempts to develop a fully integrative approach to animal behavior, but the study of behavior moves in different directions.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Biology
ISBN (Electronic)9780199892037
DOIs
StatePublished - 2 Sep 2009

Keywords

  • Animal
  • Behaviour
  • Classical
  • Ethology
  • Features
  • Science

EGS Disciplines

  • Philosophy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Animal Behavior'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this