Abstract
The publication of Daniel Lehrman’s 1953 paper, “A Critique of Konrad Lorenz’s Theory of Instinctive Behavior,” (The Quarterly Review of Biology 28(4):337–363) exposed a gulf between comparative psychologists and ethologists regarding the concept of instincts. At the center of this debate was a rivalry between T. C. Schneirla—Lehrman’s doctoral advisor—and Konrad Lorenz. While Schneirla maintained that the concept of innate instincts mischaracterized developmental processes, Lorenz maintained that innateness was essential to understand the evolution of behavior. A year after the publication of Lehrman’s paper, the Singer-Polignac Foundation organized a small conference where leaders in evolutionary biology, ethology, behavioral physiology, and comparative psychology met to discuss the concept of instinct and innateness. The result of this meeting was the publication of the book L’instinct dans le comportement des animaux et de l’homme (M. Autuori et al. (1956) Masson, Paris) in which each conference participant submitted a chapter that was followed by a discussion among the participants. Here I review the historical context surrounding this conference with a republishing of the commentary on Schneirla’s chapter, “Interrelationships of the ‘Innate’ and the ‘Acquired’ in Instinctive Behavior.” Originally published in English, German, and French, the discussion is included here with a new translation into English for the first time. A companion article (this issue; G. M. Kohn (2024) “Revisiting T. C. Schneirla’s ‘Interrelationships of the “Innate” and the “Acquired” in Instinctive Behavior’ (1956)”) discusses and makes available Schneirla’s complete paper.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
Every reasonable effort has been made to supply complete and correct credits; if there are errors or omissions, please contact Springer Nature so that corrections can be addressed in any subsequent publication.
Notes
This was a common shorthand among ethologists to refer to Lorenz’s 1935 article: “Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels. Der Artgenosse als auslösendes Moment sozialer Verhaltungsweisen” (The companion in the bird’s world. The fellow-member of the species as releasing factor of social behavior) Journal für Ornithologie. Beiblatt 83:137–213.
References
Autuori M, Benassy M-P, Benoit J, Courrier R, Deleurance E-P, Fontaine M et al (1956) L’instinct dans le comportement des animaux et de l’homme. Masson, Paris. http://archive.org/details/Autuori.1956.L.instinct.dans.comportement.animaux.et.homme
Beer CG, Lazar JW, Diakow C (1986) Historical perspective of Daniel S. Lehrman, founder of the Institute of Animal Behavior. Ann N Y Acad Sci 474(1):xiii–xiv
Gottlieb G (1997) Synthesizing Nature-nurture: prenatal roots of instinctive behavior. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah. https://www.routledge.com/Synthesizing-Nature-nurture-Prenatal-Roots-of-Instinctive-Behavior/Gottlieb/p/book/9780805828702
Kohn GM (2024) Revisiting T.C. Schneirla’s “Interrelationships of the ‘Innate’ and the ‘Acquired’ in Instinctive Behavior” (1956). Biol Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-024-00458-4
Lehrman DS (1953) A critique of Konrad Lorenz’s theory of instinctive behavior. Q Rev Biol 28(4):337–363. https://doi.org/10.1086/399858
Lehrman DS (1970) Semantic and conceptual issues in the nature-nurture problem. In: Aronson LR, Tobach E, Lehrman DS, Rosenblatt JS (eds) Development and evolution of behavior. Essays in memory of TC Schneirla. WH Freeman, San Francisco, pp 17–52
Lorenz K (1977) Behind the mirror: a search for a natural history of human knowledge. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York
Lorenz K, Tinbergen N (1970) Taxis and instinctive behaviour pattern in egg-rolling by the Greylag goose. Stud Anim Hum Behav 1:316–359
Lorenz K, Martys M, Tipler A (1991) Here am I: where are you? The behavior of the greylag goose. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York
Maier NRF, Schneirla TC (1964) Principles of animal psychology. Dover Publications, New York
Morris D (1994) The naked ape. Random House, New York
Schneirla TC (1956) Interrelationships of the innate and the acquired in instinctive behavior. In: Autuori M, Benassy M-P, Benoit J, Courrier R, Deleurance E-P, Fontaine M. L’instinct dans le comportement des animaux et de l’homme. Masson, Paris, pp 387–452
Schneirla TC (1966) Behavioral development and comparative psychology. Q Rev Biol 41(3):283–302
Schneirla TC (1971) Army ants: a study in social organization. W. H. Freeman, San Francisco
Spurway H (1955) The causes of domestication: an attempt to integrate some ideas of Konrad Lorenz with evolution theory. J Genet 53(2):325–362. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02993986
Spurway H, Haldane JBS (1953) The comparative ethology of vertebrate breathing: I. Breathing in newts, with a general survey. Behaviour 6(1):8–34
West MJ, King AP (2008) Deconstructing innate illusions: reflections on nature-nurture-niche from an unlikely source. Philosophical Psychol 21(3):383–395. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515080802200999
Zador AM (2019) A critique of pure learning and what artificial neural networks can learn from animal brains. Nat Commun 10(1):3770. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-11786-6
Acknowledgments
G.K. and the journal’s editors would like to thank the discussion translators for their generous assistance and carefully crafted renderings: Gerd B. Müller of the University of Vienna and KLI Klosterneuburg, Austria, who translated the German passages; and Mathieu Charbonneau of the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic, Morocco, who translated the French.
Funding
No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing Interests
The author has no relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Kohn, G.M. A Discussion on Instinct, Paris, 1954. Biol Theory (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-024-00459-3
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-024-00459-3