In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

74| Benjamin Arbel italian (some in several printings), it was published in english in 1557 (two more editions followed in the eighteenth century), French (1569), latin (Vienna 1595), and german (1620). Most probably, many readers considered it to be a mere literary entertainment, but some at least must have read it in the light of the relativist philosophy that gained momentum among sixteenth-century writers. One of the exponents of this new trend was even a bishop, gerolamo rorario, who served as nuncio of Pope Clement Vii in the hungarian court. his work, entitled Animals Often Use Reason Better Than Man, was written in latin in 1544.80 rorario’s relativism is even more radical than the above-mentioned parodies, since he dwells on the issue of animal intelligence, challenging the traditional division between rational and irrational beings. no wonder that the papal nuncio never dared to make his thoughts public. his book was printed posthumously in 1648 and brought considerable fame to its author, and Pierre Bayle even dedicated to him a long article in his Dictionnaire historique et critique (1696–1697).81 in the meantime, owing to Descartes and his disciples, the questions concerning animal thinking, animal souls, and the moral consequences deriving therefrom had reached the forefront of intellectual debate. as a matter of fact, the relativist trend had reached its climax already in the sixteenth century in the Essays of Michel de Montaigne, first published in 1580. in the essay “On Cruelty” Montaigne wrote that after learning about the resemblance of animals to human beings and the many common traits they share, one had to lower considerably the human pretence of dominion over other creatures.82 But most of his relativist ideas concerning the human-animal divide appear in his longest essay, “an apology for raymond Sebond,” where Montaigne draws a great number of examples from classical literature, especially from Pliny the elder and Plutarch, concerning the abilities of animals. Yet unlike the authors of medieval bestiaries , which still enjoyed some popularity during his times, he never tries to use this material allegorically or analogically for didactic purposes. What he seeks in these sources are proofs and examples showing that abilities that were considered to be exclusively human were in fact shared by other animals. These abilities include intelligence and rational thinking, imagination , mutual communication, memory, feelings, emotions (such as love and loyalty), the ability to learn, the ability to dream, and even the ability to exercise belief. human pretense to be the sole creature on earth enjoying such faculties is presented by Montaigne as vainglory . as far as he is concerned, all creatures, including human beings, act out of instincts and are endowed with different measures of intelligence.83 referring to the question of language, which was and still is a central issue in the debate about animal intelligence, he writes (following Plutarch): “We can only guess whose fault it is that we cannot understand each other: for we do not understand them any more than they understand us. They may reckon us to be brute beasts for the same reason that we reckon them to be so.”84 Montaigne is convinced that animals can communicate not only with members of their own species but also with other animals . he draws our attention to the many forms of human communication that are not part of written or spoken language and are very similar to the way animals communicate with one another. he does not deny that humans enjoy certain mental capacities that set them apart from other animals, yet for him these are not the most important qualities of life. The French humanist’s relativism is in a way summarized in the following famous sentences: “When i play with my cat, how do i know that she is not passing time with me rather than i with her? We entertain ourselves with mutual monkey tricks. if i have times when i want to begin or to say no, so does she.”85 Though being active in the same century, niccolò Machiavelli and Michel de Montaigne The Renaissance Transformation| 75 did not belong to the same generation. They lived in different countries, and their social backgrounds were also quite different. Yet both of them were products of humanistic education. They were both very well versed in the classical sources and had what can be described as an intimate relationship with classical authors. Both of them were central and well-known figures of late renaissance culture. But...

Share