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Book
Author Sorabji, Richard.

Title Animal minds and human morals : the origins of the Western debate / Richard Sorabji
Published Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1993

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  179.3 Sor/Ama  AVAILABLE
Description 267 pages ; 24 cm
Series Cornell studies in classical philology ; v. 54.. The Townsend lectures
Cornell studies in classical philology ; v. 54
Cornell studies in classical philology. Townsend lectures.
Contents Mind -- Crisis: the denial of reason to animals -- Perceptual content expanded -- Concepts and perceptual appearance without reason or belief -- Memory, preparation and emotion without rational belief -- Forms, universals and abstraction in animals -- Shifting concept of reason -- Speech, skills, inference and other proofs of reason -- Plants and animals -- Morals -- Responsibility, justice and reason -- Oikeiosis and bonding between rational beings -- Did the Greeks have the idea of human or animal rights? -- Anarchy and contracts between rational beings -- Religious sacrifice and meat-eating -- Augustine on irrational animals and the Christian tradition -- One-dimensionality of ethical theories
Summary "They don't have syntax, so we can eat them." According to Richard Sorabji, this conclusion attributed to the Stoic philosophers was based on Aristotle's argument that animals lack reason. In his fascinating, deeply learned book, Sorabji traces the roots of our thinking about animals back to Aristotelian and Stoic beliefs. Charting a recurrent theme in ancient philosophy of mind, he shows that today's controversies about animal rights represent only the most recent chapter in millennia-old debates. Sorabji surveys a vast range of Greek philosophical texts and considers how classical discussions of animals' capacities intersect with central questions, not only in ethics but in the definition of human rationality as well: the nature of concepts; how perceptions differ from beliefs; how memory, intention, and emotion relate to reason; and to what extent speech, skills, and inference can serve as proofs of reason. Focusing on the significance of ritual sacrifice and the eating of meat, he explores religious contexts of the treatment of animals in ancient Greece and in medieval Western Christendom. He also looks closely at the contemporary defenses of animal rights offered by Peter Singer, Tom Regan, and Mary Midgley. Animal Minds and Human Morals sheds new light on traditional arguments surrounding the status of animals while pointing beyond them to current moral dilemmas. It will be crucial reading for scholars and students in the fields of ancient philosophy, ethics, history of philosophy, classics, and medieval studies, and for everyone seriously concerned about our relationship with other species
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-232) and indexes
Subject Aristotle.
Animal intelligence -- Philosophy -- History -- To 1500.
Animal intelligence -- Philosophy -- History.
Animal welfare -- Moral and ethical aspects -- History -- To 1500.
Animal welfare -- Philosophy -- History.
Ethics -- History.
Philosophy of mind -- History -- To 1500.
Animal rights -- History.
Philosophy of mind -- History.
Philosophy, Ancient.
Philosophy, Medieval.
Stoics.
LC no. 93025811
ISBN 080142948X
9780801429484