Open AccessEvolutionary Preconditions for the Use of Tools from the Perspective of Animal and Human Self-Reflection
Author(s) -
Ivan Hvatov
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
vestnik rossijskogo fonda fundamentalʹnyh issledovanij. gumanitarnye i obŝestvennye nauki/vestnik rffi. gumanitarnye i obŝestvennye nauki
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2587-8956
pISSN - 2587-6090
DOI - 10.22204/2587-8956-2020-100-03-136-146
Subject(s) - animal cognition , embodied cognition , instinct , perspective (graphical) , cognitive science , comparative psychology , cognition , reflection (computer programming) , psychology , evolutionary psychology , computer science , cognitive psychology , social psychology , ecology , biology , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , programming language
Currently, the subject of the use of tools by animals is avidly explored in comparative psychology and evolution psychology. It is believed that the use of tools, if determined by instincts, is an evidence of complex cognitive processes in the animal, in particular, thinking. The ability to use and make tools was discovered in primates, a number of mammals, birds and even invertebrates. However, the abovementioned animals show an already formed complex ability to use tools. Evolutionary preconditions and factors leading to emergence of the ability to use tools as a part of mental phylogenesis are understudied.
The author of the paper offers a novel approach to exploring the preconditions for the use of tools based on the concept of self-reflection of animals and human as well as embodied cognition. According to the approach developed, the proto-tool is the body of the animal, which physical characteristics initially serve as an obstacle in achieving the goal of various activities; only afterwards, the animal recognizes its body as an opportunity, a means of affecting the environment.