No, it has been controversial for at least one other major reason discussed in the BBC article and by Anil Seth—-the near equivalence made between language and consciousness that goes back to Descartes. Descartes viewed the body as machinery, the mind as imbued and linked in a nebulous way to the body, but distinct at some fundamental level.
This split enabled the behaviorist tradition to dominate animal psychology for much of the 20th century.
This split enabled the behaviorist tradition to dominate animal psychology for much of the 20th century.