Do animals other than humans have consciousness? Do they knowingly feel and think, rather than simply respond to stimuli? Can they be said to have their own subjectivity? These questions, which are still debated today, arose forcefully in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when empirical approaches to defining and studying the natural world were coming to the fore. Philosophers, physicians and moralists debated the question of whether the immaterial “soul”--which in the early modern era encompassed all forms of thought and subjective experience—belonged to the human mind alone, or whether it could also exist in the material bodies of nonhuman animals. This book argues that early modern visual art offers uniquely probing and nuanced demonstrations of animal consciousness and agency.
More Info: https://www.brepols.net/products/IS-9781912554324-1
