Ancient Greeks endeavored to define the human being vis-à-vis other animal species by isolating capacities and endowments which they considered to be unique to humans. This approach toward defining the human being still appears with surprising frequency, in modern philosophical treatises, in modern animal behavioral studies, and in animal rights literature, to argue both for and against the position that human beings are special and unique because of one or another attribute or skill that they are believed to possess. Some of the claims of man’s unique endowments have in recent years become the subject of intensive investigation by cognitive ethologists carried out in non-laboratory contexts. The debate is as lively now as in classical times, and, what is of particular note, the examples and methods of argumentation used to prove one or another position.
Dr. Newmyer’s research centers on ancient views on animals, in particular on issues of animal rationality, as these ancient ideas anticipate arguments in modern animal rights philosophy and cognitive ethology pertaining to intellect and emotions in animals. He has published extensively on many topics relating to Greek and Roman views on human-animal relations, and has authored three books on animals in classical culture, The Animal and the Human in Ancient and Modern Thought: The “Man Alone of Animals” Concept (Routledge 2017), Animals in Greek and Roman Thought: A Sourcebook of Readings (Routledge 2011), and Animals, Rights, and Reason in Plutarch and Modern Ethics (Routledge 2006). In his spare time, he enjoys reading, traveling, attending operas, and discussing world affairs with his cat.
