The History of Animals

by Aristotle, D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (Translator)

History of Animals is a zoological natural history text by Aristotle.

Genres: Classics

345 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 10, 2011

About the author

Aristotle (Greek: Αριστοτέλης; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.
Little is known about Aristotle's life. He was born in the city of Stagira in northern Greece during the Classical period. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At 17 or 18, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of 37 (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, tutored his son Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum, which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls.
Though Aristotle wrote many treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him. His teachings and methods of inquiry have had a significant impact across the world, and remain a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion.
Aristotle's views profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. The influence of his physical science extended from late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, and was not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics were developed. He influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophies during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology, especially the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church.
Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher", and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as simply "The Philosopher", while the poet Dante Alighieri called him "the master of those who know". His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, and were studied by medieval scholars such as Pierre Abélard and Jean Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century. In addition, his ethics, although always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics.

Reviews

[Georgia Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book for romantics. Courtships are profuse. Varied and intricate. Direct verging on brutish. In words clear as a want ad, we learn "Cows desire the bull." Kisses precede sex between pigeons. Stallions tell mares apart by their perfume. Swallows rear their offspring together, both parents sharing in the work. Pigeons won't "pair with many mates, nor do they forsake their first companion, unless they become widowed."

There's harmony in this world, Aristotle seems to say. We could do a lot worse than look at animals and emulate them. Perhaps not entirely. But in much that he observes. Desire. Kisses. A share in the work. Devotion which grows with each year. That seems a good place to start.

[Truls Ljungström · Rating 1 out of 5]

Detta var bland det tråkigaste jag har läst. Det är fem delar i den volym jag läst: djurens historia, djurens delar, djurens rörelser och djurens sätt att röra sig frammåt. Det finns en pendang-volym, djurens sexualitet, som är den enda volym av Aristoteles hittills som jag har för avsikt att ignorera.

I termer av ren mängd beskrivande data som Aristoteles samlat in, så är det en imponerande volym. I termer av den mängd dissektioner som Aristoteles måste gjort, så är den också imponerande. Hans slutledningar är inte orimliga givet det data han hade. Detta sagt är det så totalt utanför mitt fält att jag inte känner mig speciellt trakterad över huvud taget. Jag rekommenderar inte dessa böcker. Alls.

[cindabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the purpose of this review I mainly quote from Aristotle’s Treatise on Physiognomy as this was referenced in ‘Apes and Angels The Irishman in Victorian Caricatures’ by L Perry Curtis Junior and was the basis for the ‘science’ of physiognomy whereby the ‘facial features, complexion, colour and texture of hair, as well as voice and posture revealed not only the ‘natural passions of the soul’ but human affinities with animals’ but some of the correlations made in Aristotle’s time (384-322 BCE) differed to those made by the physiognomists of the Victorian era which were used as a 'science' to justify racism.

Ive been told about the influence of ancient Egypt on the ancient Greeks and was thinking of the sphinx with the African man's face and the body of the lion. According to Aristotle's version of physiognomy ‘the lion appears to participate the form of the male most perfectly of all animals...with respect to his soul he is disposed to give, is liberal, magnanimous and aspires after victory, is mild and just and possesses an affection for those with whom he associates resembling parental and conjugal love’.

In terms of physical characteristics, that would be in the likeness of the lion, he would have the hardest hair, firm loins, a neck of a proper size which is not very thick, extremity of nose is round and obtuse, thin lips with loose corners, eyes hollow in a small degree, wrinkled forehead, yellow colour skin, yellow eyes and hair that is curled to the extremity.

The ancient Egyptians and Greeks also ruled over Israel and the Bible makes reference to a lot of animal symbols with the believers likened to as sheep and Jesus as the Shepherd and also the lion of the tribe of Judah and I wondered if there had been any influence on this from the ideas of physiognomy.

In addition, in Greek mythology there was the concept of the centaur part man and part horse, which according to The Hutchinson Dictionary of World Myth by Roy Willis were the offspring of Centauros, and the mares of Mount Pelion in Thessaly, which suggests that sexual encounters between man and animal were accepted and took place in the woeld of ancient Greece, and more recently the film Bestia based on the Chilean dictatorship which tells the story of Ingrid Olderock who used her German Shepherd dog to rape and torture female left wing dissidents during the Pinochet regime.

Some quotes from Physiognomy...

‘Some animals live under a leader but others are without a leader. Thus, a crane and the genus of bees are under a leader, but ants and ten thousand others are subject to no dominion’.

‘For some, indeed physiognomy, by establishing according to each genus, a certain form and character of an animal. Others as in the comparison of animals with men, were of opinion that the man whose body resembled the body of some animal, had also a similar soul. And others did not desire their knowledge from all animals but the genus itself of men, dividing according to nation, such as them who differ in sight and manners, for instance Egyptians, Thracians and Scythians.

‘noone will find a man thus similar to a wild beast, but resembling it in a certain aspect’

Soft hairs signify a timid disposition, but hard hairs denote one that is brave. This sign is derived from all animals, For the stag, the hare and the sheep are most timid and have the softest hair but the lion and the wild boar are most brave and have the hardest hair. This may also be seen in birds, birds that have hard feathers are brave but such as have soft feathers are timid evident in quails and cocks’.

‘the panther however among animals that appear to be brave is of a more feminine form’

‘small and narrow feet, without articulation are more pleasing to the view than robust, and are effeminate in what pertains to the soul’

Nose: thick in the superior part indolent oxen
thick at the extremity insensate swine
Acute in the extremity wrathful with severity dogs
Extremity of the nose is round but obtuse magnanimous lions
Nose is thin in the extremity nature of birds birds
Nose curved near the forehead impudent crows
aquiline magnanimous eagles

‘Those that are black are timid and are referred to Egyptians. Those also that are very white are timid and referred to women. Those that are yellow are magnanimous and are referred to lions. Those that are very red are crafty and referred to foxes. Honey colour is frigid.’

Eyes: small eyes pusillanimous ape
Large eyes sluggish oxen
Hollow eyes pernicious ape
Prominent eyes stupid
Small degree hollow lion
Bit more hollow mild oxen

blushy colour anger
Very black timid
yellow magnanimous eagle and lion
Azure or white timid
Vinous colour foolish she goats
Fiery eyes impudent dogs
discoloured timid fear
Shining eyes lascivious cocks and crows

‘Those whose hair is very much curled are timid and are referred to the Ethiopians. Hair that is curled to the extremity will be that which is referred to fortitude and which is also referred to the lion’.

‘The most manifest signs are those which exist in the most principal places... the eyes, the forehead, the head and the face'

[Christean Guerreiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read book 1 to 3.