Ethology

Ethology is the scientific study of animal behaviour considered as a branch of zoology. A scientist who practises ethology is called an ethologist.

Origins of the name

The term “ethology” derives from the Greek language, as ethos (ήθος) is the Greek word for "custom". Other words that derive from the Greek word ethos are: ethics and ethical. The term was first popularised in English by the American Myrmecologist William Morton Wheeler in 1902. An earlier, slightly different sense of the term was proposed by John Stuart Mill in his 1843 System of Logic. He recommended the development of a new science, "ethology," whose purpose would be the explanation of individual and national differences in character, on the basis of associationistic psychology. This use of the word was never adopted, however.

Related Topics:
Greek - Ethos - Custom - Myrmecologist - William Morton Wheeler - 1902 - John Stuart Mill - 1843 - Associationistic - Psychology

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