Library of Animal Rights History » Animal Welfare-Animal Rights Activists-Advocates-Quotes Against Cruelty to Animals

Pierre Charron

1541-1603

1601 | Pierre Charron, Of Wisdom, Three Books, Written Originally in French [published in French as De la sagesse in 1601] Made English by George Stanhope [1st ed: London, 1697] 2nd ed. (London 1707); Online at Google Books.

Of Wisdom

The Second Way of Considering Man; which is, by Stating the Comparison between Him, and other Animals.

And thus we may observe a near Neighbourhood, and close Affinity between Mankind and other Animals. They are a-kin in many Things, and Several Properties are alike and common to both. Several Things indeed there are, wherein they differ; but these are not so vastly disproportionate and distant, but that they still are next adjoyning Links, twisted within one another, in the great Chain of the Universe. So that Man is neither in all respects superior, nor inferior in all.

As for Speaking, allowing that to be the effect of Art, and not of Nature; yet it is certain too, that if it be not natural, it is not necessary neither. But yet This my be reckon'd among those Things that are given in common to Men and Beasts both: For what other Name but Speaking can we give to that Faculty of expressing themselves, that which we see they have upon all Occasions; those Significations of Pain, Grief and Joy; the Methods of Summoning one another together, and asking mutual Succours; their Arts of Courtship and Flattery, and making Love? As we sometimes speak by some particular Gestures, the Motions of our Eyes, or Head, or Hands, or Shoulders; (Arts in which Dumb People are exquisitely perfect, and practice event to Astonishment) so do Beats likewise converse with one another: And even Those of them that have no Voice at all, maintain an Intercourse of Good Offices, and ask and return them as Occasion serves. As Beasts understand Us in some degree, so do We in part understand Them: They flatter and soothe us; they threaten and give us warning; they call, intreat, and express their Want of our Help: We speak to Them, and They to Us after their manner; and if we understand but imperfectly, whose Fault is it? Theirs or Ours? This is what none of us can certainly tell, and somewhat may be said for either Side. They, for ought we know, may think as meanly of Us upon this Account, as We commonly do of them.

It hath ever been, and ever will be, a Point in Controversie, whether Brutes have none of these Spiritual Powers; and that Opinion, which holds the Affirmative, and maintains they have, is supported with greatest Authorities, and seems to carry a greater Appearance of Truth. The most celebrated and Learned Philosophers have declared for it; No less than Aristotle, and Galen, and Porphyry, and Plutarch, Democritus and Anaxogoras. The Reason, upon which they ground that Assertion, it this; That the Brain is the Particular Organ, the part of the Body, employed by the Soul, in the Acts of Ratiocination; and that the Composition of the Brain, is exactly the same in Brutes, as it is in Men, and from hence they conclude, that the Instrument of Reason, is as apt and capable in one of these Creatures, as it is in the other.

Once more; if we regard the Living in Agreement with Nature, and in Conformity with what she dictates and requires from us, Beasts seem to excel us in this respect very much; for they lead a Life of more Freedom, more Ease, and Security, more Moderation and Contentedness, than Men do. And That Man is deservedly reputed Wise, who makes them his Pattern, and his Lesson, and reaps Profit by their Example; by reforming and reducing himself to that Innocence, Simplicity, Liberty, Meekness, and Gentleness of Temper, which Nature had originally implanted both in Us and Them: And, which in Brutes is still very conspicuous, but in Us is decay'd, chang'd, and utterly corrupted by our Industrious Wickedness, and Artificial Depravations; thus debauching and abusing the particular Prerogative we pretend to, and rendering our selves more vile than the Beasts, by means of that very Understanding and Judgment, which sets us so far above them. Hence sure it is, that God intending to shame us into Vertue, sends us to School in Scripture, and bids us grow wiser by the Example of these Creatures. The Crane, the Stork, and the Swallow; the Serpent, and the Dove, the Ant, and the Ox, and the Ass, and sundry others, are recommended as Teachers to us. And after all, To take down our Vanity upon this Occasion, we ought to remember, that there is some sort of Correspondence, some mutual Relations and Duties arising from thence; if upon no other account, yet by reason of their being made by the same Hand, belonging to the same Master, and making a part of the same Family with our selves. And this single Reflection ought to prevail with us, to use or Advantages over them modestly, tenderly, and conscientiously; and not to treat them with Cruelty and Contempt. For as Justice is a Debt from us to all Men; so Kindness, and Beneficence, and Mercy must needs be due to all Creature whatsoever, that are in any Condition of receiving Benefit by us.

XXXV. The Third Respect, under which we Proposed to Consider Man, is by Taking a Short View, and Summary Account of his Life

The True Value, the Continuance and Description of Humane Life, and the Several Parts or Stages of it.

Now pray, what Right, what Privilege, what Reason hath Man to challenge a longer Duration here, than the rest of his Fellow-Creatures have a Title to? Where did God ever grant him such a Character, or how will he be able to make good the Claim? Is it reasonable He should be indulg'd more than They, because he puts out his Time to better Interest, and employs it upon Business more noble and sublime in it self, more worthy and deserving of this Favour, than They are capable of? I greatly fear, this Argument may be thrown back in our Faces, and prove the strongest Plea against us: For sure He ought rather to be cut shorter than the rest, as a Punishment for his Abuse and Mismanagement. And in this He is singular, and stands alone. The whole Creation cannot furnish a Parallel; not any one Instance of this Blessing so grievously perverted; not such another Monster of Wickedness and Unfaithfulness, of Ingratitude and Baseness, of Intemperance and Debauchery, and all manner of disorderly Living. This Charge hath been sufficiently proved upon him already, when we stated the Comparison betwixt Him and the Beasts: and therefore I urge my Point, and ask the Question once more, What Benefit would a longer LIfe be to Him? Nay, I back that with a Second, and add, What an Inconvenience would it be to Himself, and how mischievous to the World? It would make his own Account the heavier, his Crimes and Arrears the greater, and it would encourage him to yet more Extravagancies than he is guilty of already.

Presumption

[Animals] As for the Things here below upon the Earth, that is, Beasts and Living Creatures, Man looks upon them with Scorn and Contempt, as if they were of no Consideration at all. Forgetting, that they are form'd by the Hands of the same Almighty Artificer, and are reckoned among the Riches and Possessions of the same Lord; That the same Earth is our Common Mother, and that They and He, are of the same Family; and consequently ought not to be slighted and disdained, as if they were worthy no part of his Concern, nor bore any Relation at all to Him. Hence it is, that these Poor Creatures are so much abused; and treated with an Insolence and Cruelty, that flies back upon Their and our Common Master; for it is an Affront, and an Impiety, to deal thus by any Thing of His making, such as he does not only own, but express a Tenderness for; thinks them worthy his own Care, and hath appointed certain Laws for their Benefit and Preservation; such as, tho' inferior to Us in the most valuable Parts, yet he seems in some Things to have given the Advantage to; nay, such as, in several Instances, shame and reproach our Follies, and are therefore recommended in Scripture, as Master for man to be sent to School to.

For Men to persuade themselves, that God,, in making all these Things, had no other End in his Thought and Designs, but purely to consult the Convenience of Mankind; This is too great a Stretch upon the Doctrine mention'd just now, and an Arrogance which I think may very deservedly be charged with all that Folly and Presumption I have laid upon it.