Aristotle and Animal Perception: Remarks on a Historically Problematic Passage — a Talk by Robbie Howton

Cicero describes Aristotle as a “master of speech,” extolling his prose as a “golden river of eloquence,” but this view is not widely shared by modern readers. On the contrary, the texts that have come down to us are challenging in almost every respect. Aristotle’s prose is dense, laden with jargon, and terse to the point of ambiguity—sometimes even for native Greek speakers. This lecture will consider a striking case in point: a passage from De anima (On the Soul) 2.3 whose precise meaning and syntax has confounded readers and translators since antiquity. The passage concerns the causes of differential animal perception: why all animals, in Aristotle’s view, possess the senses of touch and taste, but only some have those of sight, hearing, and smell. I argue that none of the readings offered by ancient commentators or modern translators have managed to be both grammatically plausible and philosophically satisfactory. After introducing the shortcomings of extant readings, I’ll propose a new interpretation of the passage that reconciles the received text with Aristotle’s reasons for distinguishing forms of perception. Knowledge of Greek is useful, but not necessary for attendees.

Robbie Howton holds a PhD in Philosophy with certification from the Collaborative Programme in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy from the University of Toronto. His research focuses on issues in ancient Greek philosophy and the philosophy of perception, most recently on a cluster of topics in Aristotle’s psychology and natural science, including perceptual discrimination, the metaphysics of color and other sensible qualities, the epistemic value of sense experience, and the status of soul as a final cause in the Aristotelian life sciences.

This talk is being held in the context of BISR’s Language Learning and Critique program, an innovative approach to classical and modern languages and their ever-changing scenes of reception. RSVPs will receive a link to the Zoom meeting room where the talk will be held. This talk will be recorded for later viewing.

$0.00

In Stock