Why Ethology Matters

by JLS
for the GC

Grice writes in his "Method in philosophical psychology" (now repr. in his "Conception of value", 1991):

"Aristotle regarded types of soul (as I would suppose of living thing) as forming a "developing series"."

(i.e. like the concept of 'number', the concept of 'soul' (Greek psyche) does NOT get defined by genus and
species, but as a 'developing series'.

Grice goes on: "I interpret that idea that the psychological theory for a given type is an extension of, and includes, the psychological theory of its predecessor type. The realisation of this idea is at least made possible by the assumption that psychological laws may be of a _ceteris paribus_ form, and so can be modified without emendation. If this aspect of the programme can be made good, we may hope to safeguard the UNITY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCEPTS in their application to animals and to human beings."

--- including 'free' and 'will'.

"Though (as Wittgenstein noted) certain animals can only _expect_ such items as food, while men can expect a drought next summer, we can (if we wish) regard _the_ concept of expectation as being determined
not by the laws relating to it which are found in a single psychological theory, but by the SEQUENCES OF SETS OF LAWS realting to it which are FOUND IN AN ASCENDING SUCCESSION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES".

(Grice writes that "earlier versions of this address were given in lectures at Princeton University in March 1972, and as a John Dewey Lecture at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in April 1974" (p.121).

What does Toby do? For Grice, a functionalist account is in terms of a folk psychological theory. His
[Grice's] favourite creature is the squirrel, and this is how he explains the squirrel eating the nut.

The stages are finite:

1. Squirrel Toby has nut N in front of him.
2. Toby is short on squirrel food (observed or assumed), so
3. Toby wills squirrel food (By postulate of Folk Pyschological Theory T connecting will with intake of N)
4. Toby prehends nuts as in front (from (1) by Postulate of Folk Psychological Theory, if it is assumed that "nuts" and "in front" are familiar to Toby).
5. Toby joins squirrel-food with gobbling and nuts and in front (i.e. Toby judges gobbling, on nuts in front, for
squirrel food. By Postulate of Folk Psychological Theory T with the aid of prior observation. So, from 3, 4
and 5
6. Tobby gobbles; and since nuts ARE in front of him, gobbles the nuts in front of him.

I recall Jan Dejnozka commenting when I mentioned it to him: "I think this is the first philosophical analysis of eating I've ever seen!" -- and publicly so.

As we advance, we are less concerned with immediate needs, and can bring in adaptive behaviour as evidenced in predators or their preys, up to the maximal level of adaptiveness in _homo sapiens sapiens_, we hope.