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Overview
When the human understanding of beasts in the past is studied, what are revealed is not only the foundations of our own perception of animals, but humans contemplating their own status. This book argues that what is revealed in a wide range of writing from the early modern period is a recurring attempt to separate the human from the beast. Looking at the representation of the animal in the law, religious writings, literary representation, science and political ideas, what emerges is a sense of the fragility of humanity, a sense of a species which always requires an external addition—property, civilization, education—to be fully human.
Synopsis
When the human understanding of beasts in the past is studied, what are revealed is not only the foundations of our own perception of animals, but humans contemplating their own status. This book argues that what is revealed in a wide range of writing from the early modern period is a recurring attempt to separate the human from the beast. Looking at the representation of the animal in the law, religious writings, literary representation, science and political ideas, what emerges is a sense of the fragility of humanity, a sense of a species which always requires an external addition--property, civilization, education--to be fully human.
Booknews
Examining the representations of animals in law, religious and political writings, literature, and science, Fudge (English literary studies, Middlesex U., UK) argues that scholars of the early modern period (1558-1649) were focused on separating the human from the beast, but that the ways they determined human superiority or civilization were primarily external, such as property, education, and mastery of the natural world. She explores questions such as what it means to own an animal, what the emphasis on education in determining civilization means to those humans who are uneducated, and if science, or more specifically biology, offers an argument for human superiority over other animals. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)