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Single Idea 23300

[filed under theme 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / c. Animal rationality ]

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.

The 4 ideas with the same theme [non-human capacity to reason]:

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]