The charge of c in animal behavior: a philosophical analysis

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dc.contributorGraduate Program in Cognitive Science.
dc.contributor.advisorKılınç, Berna.
dc.contributor.advisorKöksal, Falih.
dc.contributor.authorDikmelik, Ediz.
dc.date.accessioned2023-03-16T11:36:51Z
dc.date.available2023-03-16T11:36:51Z
dc.date.issued2009.
dc.description.abstractAnthropomorphism has been a common criticism of the attempts to interpret nonhuman animals as subjects of psychological attributes. It is held that anthropomorphism is a fallacy which must be avoided to do good science. However, far from being a well defined and properly understood fallacy, anthropomorphism is a term which is used casually as a criticism. There seems to be a charge of anthropomorphism, rather than a fallacy of anthropomorphism. In this thesis, I examine the charge of anthropomorphism in an attempt to understand what it means and whether it is a valid criticism. First, I explicate the nature of the error implicated in the charge of anthropomorphism. Second, I focus on two different forms this charge can take in the context of animal behavior and bring to the fore the presuppositions which ground these charges. A thorough evaluation of these presuppositions shows that they cannot provide a solid foundation for the charge of anthropomorphism. Third, I apply the charge of anthropomorphism to a real study from cognitive ethology as an example and show that it fails to be a serious criticism. I conclude that in the context of animal behavior, anthropomorphism does not refer to a serious fallacy as usually supposed, and that it obscures real questions that arise in the study of nonhuman animal mentality.
dc.format.extent30cm.
dc.format.pagesvi, 62 leaves;
dc.identifier.otherCOGS 2009 D55
dc.identifier.urihttps://digitalarchive.library.bogazici.edu.tr/handle/123456789/15685
dc.publisherThesis (M.A.)-Bogazici University. Institute for Graduate Studies in Social Sciences, 2009.
dc.subject.lcshAnthropomorphism.
dc.titleThe charge of c in animal behavior: a philosophical analysis

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