The publication includes the classic work of the founder of Russian zoopsychology, comparative and evolutionary psychology V.L. Wagner. The first volume provides a methodological analysis of the subject of comparative psychology, the ways and ways of investigating the problems it considers; fundamental differences in the biologically determined species behavior of animals and the socially determined development of human psychology are revealed; both anthropomorphism in the study of the animal psyche and attempts to imagine animals as "reflex machines" are rejected; a new research path is proposed based on the "objective biological method" formulated by Wagner.