"The
Animal Within: The Application of Animal Behavior Models in the
Explanation of Human Behavior"
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Abstract:
I will review several alternate explanatory styles in the
biology of
human behavior. Most of these explanatory styles share the
assumption that models of the causes of animal behavior are applicable
in the human case. While this assumption is widely held by
behavioral biologists, philosophers tend to either reject the
assumption explicitly or at least downplay the applicability of animal
behavior models to explaining human behavior. I argue that
certain animal behavior models should play an important role in
explaining human behavior and offer some ways of resisting what I take
to be the philosophical orthodoxy in this area.