I have, out of the blue, become really interested in the study of animal behaviour- help!?
Hi, I have a degree that’s totally unrelated (Archaeology), and I’m now 22 in a full-time job.
But all of a sudden, and I don’t know why, I’ve become reeeeeally fascinated by animal behaviour, spefically how they react to their environment and the level of their self-awareness. I don’t know why this is, as it literally came about whilst I was observing my cats and it’s lit a fire in my belly.
What’s a good place for me to start researching as a beginner? Are there any relevant publications/ weeklies? Can you do serious, scientific courses in to animal behaviour? Where abouts in the UK is renowned for this, and could I go straight in at postgrad level with some background reading?
Thanks!
Welcome to the crazy ethology folks! Don’t worry, it’s obsessive, but fun nonetheless.
As for your question, it of course depends a bit on (a) what type of publications you want to read your way into, (b) whether you have a particular animal group you find interesting, (b) whether the question of self-consciousness is also interesting for you from a philosophical side, etc.etc.etc.
Given you already have a university degree, I think it is safe to assume you are willing and able to work yourself into technical papers and books. So, let me give you a few ideas what might be helpful.
First, the two journals you might want to check out at your local university/college library are Animal Behaviour and Behaviour. Both will give you a good overview as to what is going on in behavioral biology today. You might find some interesting papers there that will lead you to further publications regarding questions you are interested in.
As for self-consciousness (I use the term synonymously with self-awareness, but there is some disagreement over terminology), a good journal would be Cognition. Again, might give yu a good overview and a start to work on some more specific questions.
These publications are strictly technical, so beware of the jargon!
Of course it might help to get some intro level information, so a good textbook might be helpful:
Alcock, John. “Animal Behavior” (Sinauer). I think the 8th edition is the current one.
Someone was mentioning Niko Tinbergen, and I think Tinbergen is indeed a must for anyone interested in animal behavior. I would suggest two texts, one a famous paper that has for the past 40 years shaped ethology, the other a book I dearly love for its insightful approach.
Tinbergen, Niko. 1963. “On Aims and Methods in Ethology,” Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 20: 410-433.
Tinbergen, Niko. 1951. “The Study of Instinct” Oxford: Clarendon Press.
A more recent ethological/philosophical text is
Allen, Colin and Marc Bekoff. 1997. “Species of Mind: The Philosophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology.” Cambridge: MIT Press.
Allen is a philosopher, Bekoff an ethologist who has worked a lot on canine play as an insight into fairness, morality etc. in animals.
Now the question of self-awareness, its evolution and implication for morality, along with the question of the natural history of morality, is a hot issue right now in ethology, philosophy and even theology. Let me just give you a few names of people you definately want to look up. There is neither time nor space enough here to list all the papers and books, but if you do your research I am sure you will find what you need. I will list them by field of inquiry:
Behavioral biology, psychology, theology:
Donald Griffin, Gordon Gallup, Mark Hauser, Marc Bekoff, Michael Tomasello, Brian Hare, Daniel Povinelli, Frans de Waal, Diana Reiss, Lori Marino, Josep Call, Lauren Wispe
Evolutionary Biology
Charles Darwin, of course!
Philosophy
David Hume, Imannuel Kant, Adam Smith, John Searle, Richard Sorabji, Karsten Stueber, Richard Joyce, David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett
Theology
Aside from the classics (Augustine, Aquinas etc.) some of the contemporary thinkers involved in the question of animal mind and morality (often by ways of theological anthropology) are: Karl Rahner, Reinhold Niebuhr, Wolfhart Pannenberg (not my favorite, but very, very insightful…), Ulrich Lüke, Philip Hefner, Noreen Herzfeld (works on artificial intelligence, but theologically it’s a related issue), Francisco Ayala (who is actually an evolutionary geneticist), Nancy Murphy.
That should get you started. If you find some of the texts interesting and you have more questions, please drop me a note. I’d be happy to help you further in any way possible.
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