Abstract

RAGGHIANTI, Renzo. Montaigne and the Praise of Animals. Estud. filos. práct. hist. ideas [online]. 2011, vol.13, n.2, pp.17-24. ISSN 1851-9490.

In the midst of France's desolation caused by the religious wars, Montaigne rejects the distinction between civilization and barbarism as much as the distinction between man and animal-which means a rejection to the humanistic idea of man's greatness and centrality regarding the universe. He supports, in fact, a "Pythagoric" friendship with animals. In Montaigne there will not be found those fantastic, monstrous animals that the medieval bestiaries located in a faraway space and time, and that only a labile line separated from real animals.

Keywords : Montaigne; Raymond Sebond; Hierarchy of beings; Medievel bestiaries; Animal; Humanism.

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