“Of all the ways of defining man, the worst is the one which makes him out to be a rational animal.”
De toutes les définitions de l'homme, la plus mauvaise me paraît celle qui en fait un animal raisonnable.
Le Petit Pierre (1918), ch. XXXIII
Original
De toutes les définitions de l'homme, la plus mauvaise me paraît celle qui en fait un animal raisonnable.
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Anatole France 122
French writer 1844–1924Related quotes
“Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.”
Source: Tunnel in the Sky (1955), Chapter 2, “The Fifth Way” (p. 42)
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), I : The Man of Flesh and Bone
Context: Man is said to be a reasoning animal. I do not know why he has not been defined as an affective or feeling animal. Perhaps that which differentiates him from other animals is feeling rather than reason. More often I have seen a cat reason than laugh or weep. Perhaps it weeps or laughs inwardly — but then perhaps, also inwardly, the crab resolves equations of the second degree.
Vol. II, Ch. XXI, p. 520.
(Buch II) (1893)
“The Contradiction in Objectivism,” 1968
Book I, 1253a.31
Politics
Associated Press. (1992, July 24). "'Brownie Mary' busted for treats marijuana-laced goodies relieve AIDS patients' pain, she says after release". San Jose Mercury News, p. 3B.
Ambiguum 10, 1189B-C; trans. Andrew Louth, Maximus the Confessor (Routledge, 1996) pp. 144 https://books.google.it/books?id=G3ymSgAnzlMC&pg=PA144-145.