Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons^™

Plato On The Souls Of Beasts, Eve Browning (Cole)

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Although Plato's emphasis on rationality and calculative reason, along with his faith in the soul's immortality, place him well to mark a clear-cut distinction between the human and the beast, that clear distinction is somewhat difficult to locate. While there is no strong evidence that Plato was inclined to attribute human-like cognitive capabilities to animals, the absence of extended textual engagements with animal cognition make this an uncertain issue. And in the moral domain, there do seem to be texts which suggest that a kind of natural virtue may be found among animals. These appear in the Laws. and are …