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Ants and Some Other Insects; An Inquiry into the Psychic Powers of these Animals
Ants and Some Other Insects An Inquiry into the Psychic Powers of these Animals Author:William Morton Wheeler, Auguste Forel ANTS AND SOME OTHER INSECTS; AN INQUIRY INTO THE PSYCHIC POWERS OF THESE ANIMALS (1904) — WHEN discussing the ant-mind, we must consider that these — small animals, on the one hand, differ very widely from ourselves in organization, but on the other hand, have come, through so-called convergence, to possess in the form of a social common- wealth a... more » peculiar relationship to us. My subject, however, requires the discussion of so many complicated questions that I am compelled to assume acquaintance with the work of others, especially
the elements of psychology, and in addition the works of P. Huber,
Wasmann, von Buttel-Reepen, Darwin, Romanes, Lubbock, my
Fourmis de la Sutsse, and many others. Since the functions ot the
sense-organs constitute the basis of comparative psychology, I must also refer to a series of articles entitled "Sensations des Insectes" which I have recently published (1900-1901) in the Rivista de Biologia Generate, edited by Dr. P. Celesia. In these papers I have defined my position with respect to various authors, especially
Plateau and Bethe.
Very recently Bethe, Uexkull, and others have denied the existence of psychic powers in invertebrate animals. They explain the latter as reflex-machines, and take their stand on the ground of the so-called psycho-physical parallelism for the purpose of demonstrating our inability to recognize mental qualities in these animals. They believe, however, that they can prove the mechanical regularity of behavior, but assume unknown forces whenever they are left in the lurch in their explanations. They regard the mind as first making its appearance in the vertebrates, whereas the old Cartesians regarded all animals, in contradistinction to man, as mindless (unconscious) machines.« less