Theoretical Virtues in Eighteenth-Century Debates on Animal Cognition. Van den Berg, H. August, 2019.
abstract   bibtex   
Within eighteenth-century debates on animal cognition we can distinguish at least three main theoretical positions: (i) Buffon’s mechanism, (ii) Reimarus’ theory of instincts, and (iii) the sensationalism of Condillac and Leroy. In this paper, I will provide a precise analysis and reconstruction of the empirical and theoretical reasons these authors gave for adopting these positions. I will argue that in order to fully understand why Buffon, Reimarus, Condillac, and Leroy adopted their positions, we must pay special attention to the theoretical virtues these naturalists alluded to while justifying their position. These theoretical virtues have received little to no attention in the literature on eighteenth-century animal cognition, but figure prominently in the justification of the mechanist, instinctive, and sensationalist theories of animal behavior. In addition, I will provide a precise analysis of the debate on the explanatory scope of mechanism in eighteenth-century animal cognition, which is central to understanding the three positions I have outlined.
@misc{van_den_berg_theoretical_2019,
	address = {Prague},
	type = {Contributed talk},
	title = {Theoretical {Virtues} in {Eighteenth}-{Century} {Debates} on {Animal} {Cognition}},
	abstract = {Within eighteenth-century debates on animal cognition we can distinguish at least three main theoretical positions: (i) Buffon’s mechanism, (ii) Reimarus’ theory of instincts, and (iii) the sensationalism of Condillac and Leroy. In this paper, I will provide a precise analysis and reconstruction of the empirical and theoretical reasons these authors gave for adopting these positions. I will argue that in order to fully understand why Buffon, Reimarus, Condillac, and Leroy adopted their positions, we must pay special attention to the theoretical virtues these naturalists alluded to while justifying their position. These theoretical virtues have received little to no attention in the literature on eighteenth-century animal cognition, but figure prominently in the justification of the mechanist, instinctive, and sensationalist theories of animal behavior. In addition, I will provide a precise analysis of the debate on the explanatory scope of mechanism in eighteenth-century animal cognition, which is central to understanding the three positions I have outlined.},
	author = {Van den Berg, Hein},
	month = aug,
	year = {2019},
}

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