ABSTRACT
Animals are rational beings, in the economic sense. It describes the notional costs and benefits attributable to all possible states and activities of the animal. Specifying the goal function tells the reader nothing about the mechanisms by which animal behavior is controlled, but it does tell the reader the design criteria. In extending this view to human behavior, the author have to furnish some explanation for the teleological imperative — that people are predisposed to attribute intention (in the narrow sense) and purpose to other people, and to animals. The author suggestion is that the teleological imperative has evolved as part of a communication package designed to circumvent exploitation, manipulation and discounting by conspecific rivals. According to Lockery, ‘The TOP amounts to a calculus of behavioural choice. It is well known that certain variables play the same functional roles in the systems of differing hardware.
