Animal mind and the argument from design.
The argument from design has played an important role in the history of philosophy and biology. Paley, the 19th-century theologian, was struck by the bodily complexity and adaptive fit of animals to their environments; he used the argument from design to prove the existence of God. Darwin, however, provided the natural evolutionary mechanisms that eliminated the need for positing a divine creator to explain the structure of animals; he was thus able to treat the historical problem of organic evolution by providing a historical solution. Today, some students of behavior are similarly struck by the complexity of animals' actions and their adaptive fit to the environment. Like Paley, they use the argument from design, but to prove the existence of a conscious designer inside the head of the animal--the mind. This mentalistic approach suffers from many of the philosophical and empirical problems that plagued similar efforts in the past.
Blumberg
M S
MS
Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.
Wasserman
E A
EA
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005075:Biological Evolution; D010684:Philosophy; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012931:Social Environment