evidence or with evidence, for besides the fact that perhaps
there is no evidence, as we shall show, the evidence so called
will be either manifest to us or not. If it is not manifest to
us, then we cannot accept it with conviction; if it is manifest
to us, since the question is in regard to what is manifest to
animals, and we use as evidence that which is manifest to us who
are animals, then it is to be questioned if it is true as it is
manifest to us. It is absurd, however, to try to base the 61
questionable on the questionable, because the same thing is to
be believed and not to be believed, which is certainly
impossible. The evidence is to be believed in so far as it will
furnish a proof, and disbelieved in so far as it is itself to be
proved. We shall therefore have no evidence according to which
we can give preference to our own ideas over those of so-called
irrational animals. Since therefore ideas differ according to
the difference in animals, and it is impossible to judge them,
it is necessary to suspend the judgment in regard to external
objects.
_Have the So-called Irrational Animals Reason_?
We continue the comparison of the so-called irrational animals 62
with man, although it is needless to do so, for in truth we do
not refuse to hold up to ridicule the conceited and bragging
Dogmatics, after having given the practical arguments. Now most 63
of our number were accustomed to compare all the irrational
animals together with man, but because the Dogmatics playing
upon words say that the comparison is unequal, we carry our
ridicule farther, although it is most superfluous to do so, and
fix the discussion on one animal, as the dog, if it suits you,
which seems to be the most contemptible animal; for we shall
even then find that animals, about which we are speaking, are
not inferior to us in respect to the trustworthiness of their
perceptions. Now the Dogmatics grant that this animal is 64
superior to us in sense perception, for he perceives better
through smell than we, as by this sense he tracks wild animals
that he cannot see, and he sees them quicker with his eyes than
we do, and he perceives them more acutely by hearing. Let us
also consider reasoning, which is of two kinds, reasoning in 65
thought and in speech. Let us look first to that of thought.
This kind of reasoning, judging from the teachings of those
Dogmatics who are now our greatest opponents, those of the Stoa,
seems to fluctuate between the following things: the choice of
the familiar, and avoidance of the alien; the knowledge of the
arts that lead to this choice; and the comprehension of those
virtues that belong to the individual nature, as regards the
feelings. The dog then, upon whom it was decided to fix the
argument as an example, makes a choice of things suitable to 66
him, and avoids those that are harmful, for he hunts for food,
but draws back when the whip is lifted up; he possesses also an