LE STATUT DE L’ANIMAL DANS LE NEOPLATONISME : LES FONDEMENTS PHILOSOPHIQUES DE PLOTIN ET PORPHYRE
THE STATUS OF ANIMALS IN NEOPLATONISM: PLOTINUS’ AND PORPHYRY’S PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS

Summary/Abstract: For the early Neoplatonists, Plotinus and Porphyry, animals are included in the dimension of Intelligence, which comes from the One, or Good; so they are, in some respects, intelligent beings, although they do not use their intelligence much. The affinity between animals and men is based on the similarity of biological structure and the transmigration. In opposition to the Stoic doctrine, for Plotinus and Porphyry it is impious not to recognize a form of reason in animals; hence the wise, to purify his soul and resemble the divine, should abstain from eating animal flesh.

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