Abstract

LOPEZ-FARJEAT, Luis Xavier. The "Language" of Non-Human Animals in al-Fārābī's Commentary on Aristotle's De Interpretatione. Diánoia [online]. 2016, vol.61, n.77, pp.39-52. ISSN 0185-2450.

In De Interpretatione Aristotle distinguishes between articulate and inarticulate voices. While articulate voices are a combination of vowels and consonants, inarticulate voices would be any sound uttered by non-human animals. Nevertheless, al-Fārābī debated this view. In his Long Commentary on the De Interpretatione, he amends Aristotle's position and develops an argumentation that takes into account some considerations regarding nonhuman animals' behavior found in Aristotle's treatises on animals. After presenting al-Fārābī's views concerning the "language" of non-human animals, I briefly discuss to what extent the capacities of non-human animals to express and communicate themselves broadens our comprehension of what we might understand by language.

Keywords : animal cognition; language; al-Fārābī; Aristotle; Islamic philosophy.