235. Juhana Toivanen on Animals in Medieval Philosophy
Posted on
2 August 2015
Medieval ideas about what animals do and do not have in common with humans, and how we should treat them.
Themes:
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Further Reading
• J. Toivanen, “Peter Olivi on Internal Senses,” British Journal for the History of Philosophy 15 (2007), 427-54.
• J. Toivanen, “Peter of John Olivi on the Psychology of Animal Action,”Journal of the History of Philosophy 49 (2011), 413-38.
• J. Toivanen, Perception and the Internal Senses: Peter of John Olivi on the Cognitive Functions of the Sensitive Soul (Leiden: 2013).
• J. Toivanen, “Animals in Medieval Philosophy,” in P. Adamson (ed.) Animals (Oxford: forthcoming).
Episodes 225 - 264: Thirteenth Century
Comments
animal nature vs. human nature
What an important topic! (Obviously you'll have to continue pursuing it, and again when you get into the 17th and 18th centuries.) I'm very curious how it will go on in the middle ages.
Animals
Yes, as it happens this is an interest of mine anyway. I actually have another interview (with Cecilia Muratori) already recorded, on animals in Renaissance philosophy, though you'll have to wait a while to hear it!
Very nice episode.
Interesting outside the animal sphere too. But now I will never look at my neighbour the same...
This Subject is Fundamental in the Abortion Debate
This issue is alive in the abortion debate. Those who are pro-life say that a human fetus is part of the species and should be considered a person. Those who are pro-choice say that fetuses haven't developed rational facilities and can be aborted with impunity.
Animal trials
Interesting episode. One rather peculiar feature of late mediaeval and early modern European jurisprudence was the criminal prosecution of animals, which seems hard to justify if animals aren't capable of moral judgements. It sounds like the jurists weren't following the line of the philosophers here.
Trials
True! Actually in a paper that Toivanen wrote about this topic in a book I edited, he did mention these trials. But you're right that it is hard to square with the philosophical views on animals prevalent at the time!
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