Anthropomorphism, anecdotes, and animals
People commonly think that animals are psychologically like themselves (anthropomorphism), and describe what animals do in narratives (anecdotes) that support these psychological interpretations. This is the first book to evaluate the significance and usefulness of the practices of anthropomorphism and anecdotalism for understanding animals. Diverse perspectives are presented in thoughtful, critical essays by historians, philosophers, anthropologists, psychologists, behaviorists, biologists, primatologists, and ethologists. The nature of anthropomorphism and anecdotal analysis is examined; social, cultural, and historical attitudes toward them are presented; and scientific attitudes are appraised. Authors provide fascinating in-depth descriptions and analyses of diverse species of animals, including octopi, great apes, monkeys, dogs, sea lions, and, of course, human beings
Print Book, English, ©1997
State University of New York Press, Albany, ©1997
Anecdotes
xx, 518 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780791431252, 9780791431269, 9780585087856, 0791431258, 0791431266, 0585087857
34894518
Foreword / Frans B.M. de Waal
1. Taking Anthropomorphism and Anecdotes Seriously / Robert W. Mitchell, Nicholas S. Thompson and H. Lyn Miles
2. Dogs, Darwinism, and English Sensibilities / Elizabeth Knoll
3. Why Anthropomorphism Is Not Metaphor: Crossing Concepts and Cultures in Animal Behavior Studies / Pamela J. Asquith
4. Amorphism, Mechanomorphism, and Anthropomorphism / Emanuela Cenami Spada
5. Anthropomorphism: A Definition and a Theory / Stewart Elliott Guthrie
6. Why Anthropomorhize? Folk Psychology and Other Stories / Linnda R. Caporael and Cecilia M. Heyes
7. Anthropomorphism and the Evolution of Social Intelligence: A Comparative Approach / Gordon G. Gallup, Jr., Lori Marino and Timothy J. Eddy
8. Panmorphism / Daniel J. Povinelli
9. Anthropomorphism and Scientific Evidence for Animal Mental States / Hugh Lehman
10. Anthropomorphism in Mother-Infant Interaction: Cultural Imperative or Scientific Acumen? / Robert L. Russell