Different in degree or kind: toddlers best apes (Introduction)

by dhw, Thursday, May 19, 2016, 13:09 (3110 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Young toddlers use ape-like tools with quick mental response:-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toddlers-instinctually-know-how-to-use-a-wild...-QUOTE: "The results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, undermine the prevailing notion that children need to learn to use tools in all cases—an idea that goes back to Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who wrote in 1930 that spontaneous tool use by human children was “practically zero.'” -David's comment: Is anyone surprised? I'm not.-Nor am I. But I'm slightly surprised that you have included this under “Difference in degree or kind” and have left out the rest of the conclusion:-“The findings also suggest that humans and other great apes share a common, innate cognitive apparatus for understanding and manipulating the physical world.”-Not exactly difference in kind, then.