Animal Difference: Phūsis as a Force in Aelian's De Natura Animalium

Abstract: In this paper, I argue that Aelian is a champion of "animal difference" in the De Natura Animalium in ways that align quite closely with contemporary re-evaluations of animal intelligence, thus troubling assumptions about human exceptionalism and the disadvantages or inferior status of living via phūsis rather than logos . Through explicit statements about the nature of logos and phūsis , and through a tightly controlled narrative technique that describes minutely how animals accomplish their daily tasks and how their memories work naturally, Aelian demonstrates how animals function differently (and better) without logos , a challenge to dominant philosophical tenets.