Premium
On the Utility of the Proximate‐Ultimate Distinction in the Study of Animal Behavior
Author(s) -
Dewsbury Donald A.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1994.tb00882.x
Subject(s) - proximate and ultimate causation , psychology , proximate , epistemology , animal behavior , philosophy , biology , zoology , food science
The importance of Tinbergen's “four problems” approach lies in assuring that the answers provided are truly appropriate to the questions that are asked. No problem is any more important than any other. I suggest that the spirit of this formulation can be best realized if we revise the ways in which recent authors have grouped the various problems in the study of behavior. One consequence of this regrouping is an elimination of the proximate‐ultimate dichotomy.