Single Idea 23300

[catalogued under 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 Reference

'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.