Cognitive ethology, an interdisciplinary and comparative branch of zoology, is concerned with the influence of conscious awareness and intention on animal behaviour. It enquires into the evolutionary value of consciousness. However, consciousness is hard to define and any account of animal behaviour based on it will need to take into account both the physical mechanisms that allow for consciousness, and also consider whether we can have knowledge of the phenomenal experience of consciousness in other species. While the first consideration can be investigated scientifically, phenomenal experience needs to be inferred from behaviour, since most animals are not capable of communicating this experience directly. In fact, many accounts of animal behaviour, behavioural ecology in particular, argue that we cannot accurately explain animal behaviour with relation to thoughts or feelings and conscious awareness of them. Rather, we must concern ourselves with what can be objectively observed and measured. Cognitive ethology, however, argues that we cannot give accurate accounts of complex animal behaviour, for example social interactions or tool use, without taking consciousness into account. In this article I will argue that one can justifiably assign and study consciousness in animals through their behaviour, and that an account of certain animals’ behaviour is incomplete without reference to conscious awareness. In other words, behavioural ecology is essentially flawed as it gives, in certain cases, ultimately incorrect accounts of animal behaviour. Firstly it cannot distinguish between behaviour of more and less conscious animals, and secondly, by avoiding any mention of consciousness, it narrows its own scope, and finally cannot explain complex behaviours such as learning in any meaningful way.

中文翻译：

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从行为到意识：将动物的行为转化为动物的思想

认知行为学是动物学的一个跨学科和比较性分支，它与意识意识和意图对动物行为的影响有关。它探究意识的进化价值。但是，意识很难定义，因此基于动物的行为的任何考虑都需要考虑允许意识的物理机制，还需要考虑我们是否可以了解其他物种的意识现象。虽然可以科学地研究第一个考虑因素，但是需要从行为中推断出惊人的经验，因为大多数动物都无法直接传达这种经验。实际上，许多关于动物行为的说明，尤其是行为生态学，认为我们不能准确地解释动物的行为与思想或感觉以及对它们的自觉意识有关。相反，我们必须关注可以客观观察和衡量的内容。然而，认知行为学认为，如果不考虑意识，我们就无法对复杂的动物行为（例如社交互动或工具使用）做出准确的描述。在本文中，我将论证一个人可以通过动物的行为合理地分配和研究动物的意识，并且如果不参考意识意识，对某些动物行为的解释是不完整的。换句话说，行为生态学本质上是有缺陷的，因为在某些情况下，行为生态学最终会错误地解释动物的行为。首先，它无法区分意识越来越强的动物的行为，