SOME PREREQUISITES FOR A STUDY OF THE EVOLUTION OF COGNITION IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

A distinction is made between two definitions of animal cognition: the one most frequently employed in cognitive sciences considers cognitio n as extracting and processing information; a more phenomenologically inspired model considers it as attributing to a form of the outside wo rld a significance, linked to the state of the animal. The respective fields of validity of these two models are discussed along with the li mitations they entail, and the questions they pose to evolutionary bio logists are emphasized. This is followed by a presentation of a genera l overview of what might be the study of the evolution of knowledge in animals.