animal

Although in its widest sense the term 'animal', as contrasted with vegetable and mineral, includes mankind, in common usage the term is restricted to 'lower' or non-human animals — the 'brutes' or 'beasts'. For Descartes (whose Discourse on Method, 1637, examines the difference between men and beasts), the crucial point is that animals lack language: their 'utterances' are always elicited by a specific stimulus, and thus can never amount to genuine speech. It follows, on Descartes's view, that animals lack thought, and that their behaviour can be explained on purely mechanical principles — a view that led later Cartesians to the notorious doctrine of the 'bête machine' and that animals are merely mechanical automata. In recent times the linguistic theories of Noam Chomsky have reinforced the view that animals lack genuine (i.e. creative, stimulus-free) language; current empirical research, however, suggests that chimpanzees, at least, may have a degree of linguistic competence. Current work in moral philosophy has stressed the fact that animals, though they may lack thought, are at least sentient, and hence are entitled to moral consideration. (See primate language.)

(Published 1987)

— John G. Cottingham

Bibliography
• Singer, P. (1977). Animal Liberation.
• — —  and Regan, T. (1976). Animal Rights and Human Obligations.

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animal	Stuffed Animal
Pet Animal	Animal Planet