Animal intelligence: Experimental studiesThorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee)
Science
Animal intelligence: Experimental studies
Thorndike, Edward L. (Edward Lee)
Animal intelligence; Psychology, Comparative
Furthermore, there is no more truth in the statement that a man’s
pain or anxiety or opinions are matters of direct consciousness, pure
experience, than in the statement that his length, weight and temperature
are, or that the sun, moon and stars are. If by the pain we must mean
the pain as felt by some one, then by the sun we can mean only the sun
as seen by some one. Pain and sun are equally subjects for a science of
‘consciousness as such.’ But if by the sun is meant the sun of common
sense, physics and astronomy, the sun as known by any one, then by the
pain we can mean the pain of medicine, economics and sociology, the pain
as known by any one, and by the sufferer long after he _was_ or _had_ it.
All facts emerge from the matrix of pure experience; but they become
facts for science only after they have emerged therefrom. A man’s anxiety
may be the anxiety as directly felt by the man, or as thought of by him,
or as thought of by the general consensus of scientific observers. But
so also may be his body-temperature or weight or the composition of the
blood in his veins. There can be no valid reason other than a pragmatic
one for studying a man’s anxiety solely as _felt_ by him while studying
his body-temperature as _thought of_ by him and others. And the practical
reasons are all in favor of studying all facts as they exist for any
impartial observer. A man’s mind as it is to thinking men is all that
thinking men can deal with and all that they have any interest in dealing
with.
Finally, the subject-matter of psychology is not sharply marked off from
the subject-matter of physiology by being absolutely non-spatial. On the
contrary, the toothache, anxiety and judgment are referred unequivocally,
by every sane man who thinks of them, to the space occupied by the body
of the individual in question. That is the surest fact about them.
It is true that we do not measure the length, height, thickness and
weight of an animal’s pain or anxiety, but neither do we those of his
pulse, temperature, health, digestion, metabolism, patellar reflex or
heliotropism.
Two noteworthy advantages are secured by the study of behavior. First,
the evidence about intellect and character offered by action and the
influence of intellect and character upon action are given due attention.
Second, the connections of conscious states are studied as well as their
composition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account