The Animal Question as Folklore in Science.

Looking to answer ancient questions about the similarities and differences between humans and nonhuman animals, animal cognition scientists have deployed a traditional Aesopian fable, the Crow and the Pitcher, as narrative frame and structural precedent for experimental investigation. Herein, I cons...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journal of Folklore Research Vol. 56; no. 2/3; pp. 15 - 27
Autor principal: Barker, K. Brandon
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Indiana University Press May-Dec2019
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Looking to answer ancient questions about the similarities and differences between humans and nonhuman animals, animal cognition scientists have deployed a traditional Aesopian fable, the Crow and the Pitcher, as narrative frame and structural precedent for experimental investigation. Herein, I consider the theoretical implications of this peculiar intersection between folklore and science in the contexts of Alan Dundes's notion of folk ideas (1971) and folkloristic genre theory. Ultimately, I gauge whether the so-called Aesop's Fable Paradigm is simply a folkloric cameo in science or a more complicated case of genuine scientific folklore.