Single Idea 20916

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 7. Animal Minds]

Full Idea

Democritus recognised that animals have a share of reason.

Gist of Idea

Animals have a share of reason

Source

report of Democritus (fragments/reports [c.431 BCE]) by Porphyry - On Abstinence 3.6.7

Book Reference

Democritus: 'Early Greek Phil VII: Democritus', ed/tr. Laks,A/Most,G [Harvard Loeb 2016], p.229


A Reaction

Since he considers thinking to be the interaction of atoms in the body, which animals evidently possess, this seems consistent. No one seems to observed animals closely before the 20th century, other than to exploit them.

Related Idea

Idea 20913 Democritus says the soul is the body, and thinking is thus the mixture of the body [Democritus, by Theophrastus]