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Morgan's Canon Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Sean Allen-Hermanson
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Abstract

The famous ethological maxim known as ‘Morgan's Canon’ continues to be an object of interpretive controversy. I reconsider Morgan's Canon in light of two questions: First, what did Morgan intend? Second, is this, or perhaps some reinterpretation of the Canon, useful within cognitive ethology? As for the first issue, Morgan's distinction between higher and lower faculties is suggestive of an early supervenience concept. As for the second issue, the Canon, both in its original form and in various recent rereadings, offers nothing useful to cognitive ethology.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 72 , Issue 4 , October 2005 , pp. 608 - 631
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank Elliot Sober, Collin Allen, and the anonymous referees at Philosophy of Science for helpful comments.

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