This study offers a fresh perspective on Aristotle's zoology by examining animals as natural beings and emphasizing their intrinsic logos, or inner reasoning, rather than solely relying on human logic. It critiques previous interpretations and highlights how animals perceive and interact with their environment, ultimately advocating for a deeper understanding of their sensory experiences and existence in the natural world.
What did the early Greek philosophers think about animals and their lives? How did they view plants? And, ultimately, what type of relationship did they envisage between all sorts of living beings? On these topics there is evidence of a prolonged investigation by several Presocratics. However, scholarship has paid little attention to these issues and to the surprisingly 'modern' development they received in Presocratics' doctrines. This book fills this lacuna through a detailed (and largely unprecedented) analysis of the extant evidence.0The volume includes also the first extensive collection of the ancient sources pertaining to living beings and life in early Greek philosophy, organized chronologically and thematically.0Claudia Zatta (PhD, Johns Hopkins University) is the author of Incontri con Proteo (Venice, 1997) and of numerous essays that have appeared in, among other venues, Arethusa, Classical Antiquity, and Arion. She is currently working on another book-length manuscript that addresses Aristotle's treatment of living beings and life within the intellectual tradition traced by the Presocratics