And the Hi, I'm Peter Adamson and you're listening to the History of Philosophy Podcast, brought to you with the support of the Philosophy Department at

Kings College London and the LMU in Munich, online at History of Philosophy.net.

Today's episode, What A Piece of Work is Man, Manetti and Pico on human nature.

In the 1970s, a philosopher named Peter Singer brought attention to what he saw as an under-appreciated form of prejudice.

Just as sexism is discrimination on the basis of gender and racism, discrimination on the basis of race, there is also speciesism, meaning discrimination against non-human

animals on the basis of their species. Singer argued then, and continues to argue today, that

we should include animals within the bounds of our moral concern.

It is not being human that makes the difference, morally speaking, but being sentient.

That is why it is wrong to harm an animal without having a very good reason, whereas it's not wrong

to smash a rock. Rocks can't feel pain. Singer looked back to his fellow utilitarian,

Jeremy Bentham. Already in the 1780s Bentham wrote in favor of benevolence towards animals

saying the question is not can they reason nor can they talk but can they suffer.

Yet speciesism also has a considerable pedigree, as Singer admitted.

The idea of a distinctive human dignity and worth, he wrote, has a long history, it can be traced back directly to the Renaissance

humanists, for instance to Pico de la Mirandala's oration on the dignity of man.

That's a lot to put at the door of a speech written by a 24-year-old, but Singer is not alone in seeing Pico's

oration as a pivotal work in Renaissance philosophy, even in the history of European thought.

It is often hailed as signaling a new even in the history of European thought.

It is often hailed as signaling a new conception of human nature and of humanity's place in the world,

as expressing what you might call a novel philosophical anthropology. Anthropology being of course the study of the human.

In this speech Pico gave voice to the idea that humans are radically free and irreducibly individual.

Each of us blessed by God with the opportunity to choose what meaning to give to our life.

...