Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)

A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes

London

Printed for Edward Jeffrey

1792

"Perhaps too, they will endeavour to support their opinion from the authority of Aristotle in his politics, where he endeavours to prove, that some men are naturally born slaves, and others free; and that the slavish part of mankind ought to be governed by the independent, in the same manner as the soul governs the body, that is, like a despot or a tyrant."

The author indeed, is well aware, that even in these luminous days, there are still many who will be so far from admitting the equality of brutes to men, that they will not even allow the equality of mankind to each other. Perhaps too, they will endeavour to support their opinion from the authority of Aristotle in his politics, where he endeavours to prove, that some men are naturally born slaves, and others free; and that the slavish part of mankind ought to be governed by the independent, in the same manner as the soul governs the body, that is, like a despot or a tyrant. "For (says he) those who are born with strong bodily and weak mental powers, are born to serve; and on the contrary, whenever the mind predominates over the body, it confers natural freedom on its possesser." But this is a conclusion which will surely be ridiculed by every genuine modern, as it wholly proceeds on a supposition, that mind and body are two distinct things, and that the former is more excellent that the latter; though almost every one is now convinced, that soul ad body are only nominally distinguished from each other, and are essentially the same.
(pp. iv-vi)

Government::Despot or Tyrant

Reading

2 entries in ESTC (1792, 1795).

See A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes (London: Printed for Edward Jeffrey, 1792).<Link to ESTC>

Reading Edition. A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes, ed. Louise Schutz Boas (Gainesville, FL: Scholars' Facsimile, 1966). <Link to archive.org>

04/24/2014