5*4 



THE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 



and the behaviorists went the logical 

 limit by holding that the speculative 

 element was so large as to render all 

 inferences of this sort misleading, and 

 scientifically worthless. 



The objective principle as applying to 

 the infra-human field, has come to be more 

 and more accepted, and at present, repre- 

 sents the dominant tendency in compara- 

 tive psychology. Although the validity 

 of analogy is insisted upon by some 

 writers (2.52., 12.3) they make little or no 

 use of it. It is generally agreed that the 

 qualitative aspects of the animal con- 

 sciousness cannot be inferred from struc- 

 ture or behavior. But this, as we have 

 seen, is tantamount to giving up the 

 primary task of the subjective method and 

 carries with it the implication that a 

 subjective comparative psychology is quite 

 impossible. In view of the strength and 

 vigor of the objective movement, it 

 seems fair to conclude that the science 

 has definitely adopted a strictly biological 

 viewpoint and a natural science method- 

 ology. Its major categories — organism, 

 environment, and response, or behavior- — 

 are broadly naturalistic, and avoid the 

 older mind-body dichotomy with its 

 attendant speculations. The proper goal 

 of this objective comparative psychology 

 is the determination of the conditions 

 and laws of stimulation-response process, 

 involved in the continuous interaction 

 between the organism and its environ- 

 ment. 



Having freed itself from the dominating 

 influence of human psychology insofar as 

 subjective interpretation is concerned, 

 comparative psychology no longer need 

 be bound by the older anthropocentric 

 attitude as to its legitimate purposes and 

 program. Indeed, it gives some promise 

 of discarding the narrow view that it 

 exists as a mere adjunct to human psy- 

 chology and that its primary aim should 

 be to make discoveries that may throw 

 light upon the mental processes or be- 

 havior of the human species. Even so 

 conservative a writer as Wundt (2.47) 

 recognized the right of comparative psy- 

 chology to develop a content independent 

 of human reference in the same sense as 

 zoology is independent of human mor- 

 phology and physiology. This broader 

 view would seek to find intrinsic interest 

 in the behavior of each organism studied, 

 including man, and in all possible inter- 

 comparisons of such behavior. The dif- 

 ferences in behavior between ameba and 

 earthworm may very well be of more 

 interest and importance in the systematic 

 development of the science than behavior 

 differences between chimpanzee and man. 

 Just as morphology and physiology in 

 their comparative aspect include the 

 entire range of structural and functional 

 differentiation in living organisms, so 

 comparative psychology should seek to 

 study the multitudinous modes of adjust- 

 ment of these same organisms to their 

 larger environment. 



LIST OF LITERATURE 



(Y) Aristotle. 1910-iz. The Works of Aristotle 

 translated into English. Oxford, Clarendon 

 Press. (Historia Animalium, Vol. 4, 484P.; 

 minor biological treatises, Vol. 5, 552 p.) 



(2) Brett, G. S. 1912-11. A History of Psy- 



chology. London, Allen, 3V. 



(3) Carus, J. V. 1871. Geschichte der Zoologie 



bis auf Joh. Miiller und Charles Darwin. 

 Miinchen, Oldenbourg, 73 8p. Fr. Tr. 

 Hogenmiiller, 1880. Paris, Balliere, 62.3P. 



(4) Cuvier, G. 1841-45. Histoirc des sciences 



naturelles dcpuis leur origine jusqu'a nos 

 jours. Paris, Fortin, 5V. in 4. 



(5) Descartes, R. 1911-12. The Philosophic*! 



Works. Eng. Tr. Haldane and Ross. 

 Cambridge, Univ. Press, 2.V. 



