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Full Idea
Aristotle, and also the Stoics, denied rationality to animals. …The Platonists, the Pythagoreans, and some more independent Aristotelians, did grant reason and intellect to animals.
Gist of Idea
Aristotle and the Stoics denied rationality to animals, while Platonists affirmed it
Source
report of Aristotle (works [c.330 BCE]) by Richard Sorabji - Rationality 'Denial'
Book Ref
'Rationality in Greek Thought', ed/tr. Frede,M /Striker,G [OUP 1999], p.311
A Reaction
This is not the same as affirming or denying their consciousness. The debate depends on how rationality is conceived.
23310 | Animals live by sensations, and some have good memories, but they don't connect experiences [Aristotle] |
23300 | Aristotle and the Stoics denied rationality to animals, while Platonists affirmed it [Aristotle, by Sorabji] |
4270 | Do we use reason to distinguish people from animals, or use that difference to define reason? [Scruton] |
4914 | A frog will starve to death surrounded by dead flies [Carter,R] |