The problem of reason in animals from the Neoplatonic perspective

Abstract

The study of animals by Ancient thought has already recovered an extensive and varied historiography. in the late Antiquity, there is abundant research from Plutarch and, to a lesser extent, Porphyry, both authors of specific treatises on the subject. the existence or not of reason in animals or, on the other hand, the discussion and affirmative demonstration of this, although founded on psychophysical nature and dynamics similar to the human’s one constitute some arguments here explored. But in relation to this second aspect, which touches the very question of the Soul and, as its corollary, the one-multiple dynamics in the phenomenal beings, little was said. As we believe in this topic as essential, this article aims at discussing it.