Gargani D (2023), Kohler e Vygotskij sull'intelligenza delle scimmie antropoidi

The article explores Köhler's research at the Tenerife primate station between 1913 and 1920, which culminated in "The Mentality of Apes," and Vygotsky's subsequent interpretations of the studies. Both scholars attribute intellect and intelligence to chimpanzees. The significance of studying anthropoid apes naturally ties back to Darwin's theories on the origins of the human species. Köhler considers behaviors intelligent when predetermined goals are achieved through intermediate operations not directly related to the final goal. He develops a dynamic notion of the perceptual field that includes possible actions and functional values of objects present in a scene. In Köhler's experiments, chimpanzees manage to invent tools, transforming certain objects to achieve their goals, demonstrating abilities previously thought to be exclusive to humans. However, the instrumental intelligence of anthropoids apes does not reach the systematicity of human instrumental intelligence, as it relies on representative abilities bound to a limited space-time horizon; for this reason, they show no signs of civilization and do not develop a language similar to humans. Vygotsky viewed Köhler's research as fundamental to studying the origins of civilized man. Vygotsky, Buhler, and Luria identified three phases of behavioral evolution: instinctive, trial and error learning, and intellectual. Mammals are capable of learning and play; they can also make intelligent detours (through intermediate displacements). The behavior of apes described by Köhler fall into the intellectual phase. According to Bühler, they show the ability to solve problems through internal reflection and sudden insight; solutions reached by insight quickly stabilize and generalize to different situations. Vygotsky agrees with Bühler's view and emphasizes the difference between slow trial and error learning and insight-based learning that can stabilize and generalize based on identifying a common structure; he also highlights the inventive nature of the chimpanzees' solutions and their ability to generalize outside their original contexts. Vygotsky views the intelligence of the anthropoids as the final natural phase in the development of cognition. Their ability to invent tools seems like a precursor to the development of human work. However, organized production of sustenance arises from the linguisticization of thought and as such belongs only to humans, the only species where sensorimotor cognitive abilities connect to signs, especially when it comes to the development of language.