The book examines the problems of cognitive evolution, the evolution of thinking and the development of scientific knowledge from the standpoint of evolutionary epistemology. Along with translations of a number of works by K. Lorenz, which served as the starting point for the formation of this new direction in modern epistemology, the results of current research by Russian scientists are presented here. The book pays special attention to the analysis of various stages of human cognitive evolution characteristic of these stages of the methods of processing and transmitting adaptively valuable information (including ancient languages ​ ​ of dances and non-verbal symbols). The book also explores the formation of a "propositional" paradigm in ancient epistemology, search strategies used in scientific knowledge, prospects for applying a synergistic approach in evolutionary epistemology.