Cognitive abilities of living systems: epistemological traditions and innovations

The aim of this article is the analysis of cognitive abilities of living systems (organisms) from the position of traditional epistemology and the latest cognitive paradigm – evolutionary epistemology. Within the traditional approach cognitive abilities are unique specific human phenomenon. Evolutionary epistemology allows studying cognitive abilities as a universal quality of living systems. The necessity of the research of evolutionary-biological preconditions of cognitive abilities of man is explained.