„Uważać, […] abyśmy jako bydlęta nie żyli” – „z bydlęty równie chodziem”
“Take care […] so we would not live like beasts” – “we go together with beasts”

The relation between man and beast in the Aristotelian Christian writing of the Baroque

Author(s): Grzegorz Raubo
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Polish Literature, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Baroque; relation between man and beast; Christian Aristotelian writing; Christian notion of soul; anthropomorphism
Summary/Abstract: The study contains reflections on the relations between man and beast in the works of two writers, who played significant roles in Polish history of Christian Aristotelian writing of the Baroque. The main source is are the works of Sebastian Petrycy from Pilzno (1554–1626), published together with Aristotle’s works translated by him, i.e. "Commentaries to Aristotle’sEconomics" (1602), "Commentaries to Aristotle’s Politics" (1605) and "Commentaries to Aristotle’s Ethics" (1618), as well as written as scientia curiosa the encyclopedia of the Jesuit, Wojciech Tylkowski (1625–1695), "Erudite Discussions Containing Almost All Philosophy" (1692), whose basis was his earlier work "Philosophia curiosa seu universa Aristotelis philosophia" (1680–1690). The analysis of the title subject leads to the conclusion that the essential difference between regnum hominis and the animal world lies in the soul unique to a human being, created by God, endowed with reason and immortal. The difference between man and beast defined in such a way enabled to emphasize the privileged status of the ontic human being in the great chain of existence and justify human supremacy over fauna. Emphasizing the difference between man and animal, the authors of the analysed sources drew attention to the similarities between them, referring to the Aristotelian concept of the division of the soul into vegetative, sensitive and rational one. They also argued that the insight into similarities and differences between people and lower beings should inspire self-cognition, which aims to discipline animal features of human nature. An important thread of their inquiry was emphasizing ingenuity and intelligence in the behaviour of animals, while stressing that they should not be explained in an anthropomorphic way.

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