SELECTED WORKS IN PROGRESS

Eve Browning

Pnyx, Athens Acropolis

Papers in Progress:

"Xenophon on the Minds of Horses": In this paper I analyze Xenophon's treatise "Peri Hippikes" (On Horsemanship) for the theory of equine psychology which it presupposes. I argue that Xenophon is comparatively generous in attributing ocgnitive and emotional complexity to horses. In the training regiment which the treatise described, horse and human create a partnership which can only be possible on the assumption that horses engage in rudimentary reasoning, possess some degree of self-consciousness, and in short share some psychological and cognitive capacities with their human trainers. The paper is an effort to bring Xenophon's views on equine psychology into contemporary debates on animal intelligence.

 

"Separating the Men from the Beasts: Foundations of Human Society in Greek Philosophy": Here I interpret some stories from Greek mythology and philosophy which tell of the origins of human society. I specifically focus on stories in which an interesting comparison or contrast between non-human animals and human beings plays a significant role. I argue that these stories display an ambivalence and tension concerning the respects in which human existence distances itself from the realm of the beasts. This paper is part of an ongoing attempt to understand the ways in which ancient Greeks conceptualized the differences, and the commonalities, between humans and non-animals.