Perhaps,then,fromthispointinthedevelopmentofWestern
thoughtthestatusofnonhumanswasboundtoimprove?The
oldconceptoftheuniverse,andofthecentralplaceofhuman
beingsinit,wasslowlygivingground;modernsciencewas
abouttosetforthonitsnow-famousrise;and,afterall,the
status of nonhumans
wasso low thatone might reasonably thinkit couldonly
improve.
But the absolute nadir was still to come. The last, most
bizarre, and—for the animals—most painful outcome of
Christian doctrines emerged in the first half of the
seventeenth century, in the philosophy of René Descartes.
Descarteswasadistinctivelymodernthinker.Heisregarded
as the father of modern philosophy, and also of analytic
geometry,inwhichagooddealofmodernmathematicshas
itsorigins.ButhewasalsoaChristian,andhisbeliefsabout
animalsarosefromthecombinationofthesetwoaspectsof
his thought.
Under the influence of the new and exciting science of
mechanics,Descartesheldthateverythingthat consistedof
matterwasgovernedbymechanisticprinciples,likethosethat
governedaclock.Anobviousproblemwiththisviewwasour
ownnature.Thehumanbodyiscomposedofmatter,andis
partofthephysicaluniverse.Soitwouldseemthathuman
beingsmustalsobemachines,whosebehaviorisdetermined
by the laws of science.
Descarteswasable to escapethe unpalatableand heretical
viewthathumansaremachinesbybringingintheideaofthe
soul. There are, Descartessaid, not one but two kinds of
thingsintheuniverse,thingsofthespiritorsoulaswellas