Beasts and Universals: A Thomistic Account

Skalko, John

doi:10.5840/acpaproc2025630177

Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association

Volume 97, 2023

The Human Person

John Skalko

Pages 93-110

https://doi.org/10.5840/acpaproc2025630177

Beasts and Universals
A Thomistic Account

Do non-human animals know universals or abstract concepts? Many animal researchers would answer in the affirmative because various animals have shown the ability to sort objects appropriately into different groupings. Closer examination of such studies, however, indicates there may be another explanation. Utilizing the cognitive framework of Thomas Aquinas on the interior senses, particularly the estimative power, this work endeavors to challenge the dominant narrative regarding such cognitive acts in animals. In particular, a proper understanding of the estimative power in light of the biological writings of Aristotle and Albertus Magnus indicates that there is a much simpler explanation as to how animals can sort objects without anthropomorphizing or attributing to them higher cognitive abilities or actions than is necessary. Cases of animal sorting can be explained by a comparing of sensible accidental features to sortals, which is the highest type of phantasm possible for non-human animals.

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