Animals

43 - Classified Information: Aristotle's Biology

Posted on 24 July 2011

Aristotle’s scientific outlook is perhaps best displayed in his zoology. Peter looks at his theories of inheritance, spontaneous generation, and the eternity of animal species.

92 - King of Animals: Porphyry

Posted on 2 September 2012

Porphyry fuses Platonism with Aristotelianism, exploring Aristotle’s logic and Plotinus’ philosophy. He also finds time to argue for vegetarianism.

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.

15. Mostly Harmless: Non-Violence

Posted on 3 April 2016

Vegetarianism and non-violence (ahimsa) in ancient Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

58. Amber Carpenter on Animals in Indian Philosophy

Posted on 21 January 2018

An interview about the status of nonhuman animals in ancient Indian philosophy and literature.

313. Queen of the Sciences: Anna Komnene and her Circle

Posted on 2 December 2018

Princess Anna Komnene makes good use of her political retirement by writing her Alexiad and gathering a circle of scholars to write commentaries on Aristotle.

35. Letters from the Heart: Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker

Posted on 15 September 2019

Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker make their mark on the history of Africana thought through letters that reflect on the power of sentiment.

345. What a Piece of Work is Man: Manetti and Pico on Human Nature

Posted on 22 March 2020

Pico della Mirandola and Giannozzo Manetti praise humans as the centerpiece of the created world. But what about the other animals?

346. Cecilia Muratori on Animals in the Renaissance

Posted on 5 April 2020

An interview with Cecilia Muratori, an expert on the surprisingly modern ideas about non-human animals that emerged in the Renaissance.

Human and Animal in Global Philosophy

Posted on 13 November 2021

In this first of four bonus episodes on animals and Islamic philosophy, Peter sets some context by surveying ideas about animals in Greek, Indian, Chinese, and African philosophy.

These episodes draw on work done with the support of the project “Animals in the Philosophy of the Islamic World”, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 786762).

Can They Think? Animal Minds

Posted on 13 November 2021

In this second of four bonus episodes on animals and Islamic philosophy, Peter talks about the standard view that reason differentiates humans from animals, and challenges posed to this view from medical theory and Islamic theology.

These episodes draw on work done with the support of the project “Animals in the Philosophy of the Islamic World”, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 786762).

How Should We Treat Them? Animal Ethics

Posted on 13 November 2021

In this third of four bonus episodes on animals and Islamic philosophy, Peter looks at texts from the Islamic world arguing for benevolence towards animals.

These episodes draw on work done with the support of the project “Animals in the Philosophy of the Islamic World”, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 786762).

What Makes Us Special? Humans as Animals

Posted on 13 November 2021

In this fourth of four bonus episodes on animals and Islamic philosophy, Peter asks what difference it would make if humans are unique among animals in being rational.

These episodes draw on work done with the support of the project “Animals in the Philosophy of the Islamic World”, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 786762).