Overview

This collection of 24 readings is a comprehensive treatment of important topics by leading figures in the rapidly growing interdisciplinary field of animal cognition. Taken together the essays provide the nucleus for an introductory course in animal cognition (cognitive ethology and comparative psychology), philosophy of biology, or philosophy of mind. Selections are grouped in five sections: perspectives on animal cognition; cognitive and evolutionary explanations; recognition, choice, vigilance and play; communication and language; and animal minds. Seventeen essays are reprinted from the authors much cited two-volume collection, ""Interpretation and Explanation in the Study of Animal Behaviour"". One essay taken from that book has been subsequently revised, and five additional essays are recent examples of critical thinking in cognitive ethology. The preface and final chapter, ""Ethics and the Study of Animal Cognition"", are new.

Full Product Details

Author:   Marc Bekoff ,  Dale Jamieson (New York University)
Publisher:   MIT Press Ltd
Imprint:   MIT Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.50cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 25.10cm
Weight:   0.862kg
ISBN:  

9780262522083

ISBN 10:   026252208
Pages:   395
Publication Date:   21 December 1995
Recommended Age:   From 18 years
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Unknown
Availability:   Out of stock  

Table of Contents

Part 1 Perspectives in animal cognition: the myth of anthropomorphism, John Andrew Fisher; gendered knowledge? examining influences on scientific and ethological inquiries, Lori Gruen; interpretive cognitive ethology, Hugh Wilder; concept attribution in nonhuman animals - theoretical and methodological problems in ascribing complex mental processes, Colin Allen and Marc Hauser. Part 2 Cognitive and evolutionary explanations: on aims and methods of cognitive ethology, Dale Jamieson and Marc Bekoff; aspects of the cognitive ethology of an injury-feigning bird, the piping plover, Carolyn A. Ristau; tradition in animals - field observations and laboratory analyses, Bennett G. Galef, Jr.; the study of adaptation, Randy Thornhill; the units of behaviour in evolutionary explanations, Mitchell; levels of analysis and the functional significance of helping behaviour, Walter D. Koenig and Ronald L. Mumme. Part 3 Recognition, choice, vigilance and play: the uniquitous concept of recognition with special reference to kin, Andrew R. Blaustein and Richard H. Porter; do animals choose habitats?, Michael L. Rosenzweig; the influence of models on the interpretation of vigilance, Steven L. Lima; is there an evolutionary biology of play?, Alexander Rosenberg; intentionality, social play and definition, Colin Allen and Marc Bekoff. Part 4 Communication and language: communication and expectations -a social process and the cognitive operation it depends upon and influences, W. John Smith; animal communication and social evolution, Michael Philips and Steven N. Austad; animal language - methodological and interpretive issues, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Karen E. Brakke; knowledge acquisition and asymmetry between language comprehension and production - dolphins and apes as general models for animals, Louis M. Herman and Palmer Morrel-Samuels; evolution and psychological unity, Roger Crisp; the mental lives of nonhuman animals, John Dupre; inside the mind of a monkey, Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney; a bat without qualities?, Kathleen A. Akins; afterword - ethics and the study of animal cognition, Dale Jamieson and Marc Bekoff.

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Author Information

Dale Jamieson is Director of Environmental Studies, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy, and Affiliated Professor of Law at New York University.

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