Rational animal
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Rational animal is a classical definition of man.[1] Though it is often attributed to first appearing as a definition in Aristotle's Metaphysics, Aristotle does not define it here. In the Nicomachean Ethics I.13, Aristotle states that the human being has a rational principle.
The definition of man as a rational animal was common in scholastical philosophy.[2] Catholic Encyclopedia states that this definition means that "in the system of classification and definition shown in the Arbor Porphyriana, man is a substance, corporeal, living, sentient, and rational".[2]
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[edit] Influence and legacy
[edit] Descartes
In Meditation II of Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes arrives at his famous "I am, I exist" claim. He then goes on to wonder "What am I?" He considers and rejects, "rational animal":
Shall I say 'a rational animal'? No; for then I should have to inquire what an animal is, what rationality is, and in this one question would lead me down the slope to other harder ones.[3]
[edit] Later influences
Neo-kantian philosopher Ernst Cassirer, in his work An Essay on Man (1944), altered Aristotle definition to label man as a symbolic animal. This definition has been influential in the field of philosophical anthropology, where it has been reprised by Gilbert Durand.
[edit] Quotes
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- Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason. – Oscar Wilde
- It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. – Bertrand Russell
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognition-animal/
- ^ a b
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Man". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. - ^ The Philosophical Writings of Descartes Volume II. Translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, Dugald Murdoch. Cambridge University Press. 1984.
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