Decision making requires reference to both actual and remote information in the context of the requirements of the animal. Here, I explore a cognitive approach to decision making in honeybees and ask the question whether flies may share the faculties observed in bees. Examples are drawn primarily from natural behavior in bees, particularly from navigation and communication. I conclude that studies in Drosophila learning and memory in the tradition of Martin Heisenberg may gain from cognitive concepts, meaning that the "internal doing" of the brain should be included in the search for the neural basis of decision making.