Machines That Can Talk? Looking for a New Way to Understand Animals in the Historic Discourse

This project postulates the question: is it possible to trace the origins of some methods of current ethology back to the debate around the Cartesian postulate of the animal-machine? An important element of this debate, the text Amusement philosophique sur la langage des bêtes, by the French Jesuit, Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant, appeals indirectly to knowledge and understanding of animals, some of which can be seen in the methodology of some contemporary ethologists. In addition, I highlight the impact of this book in New Spain, by investigating an inquisitorial complaint against the possession of a Spanish translation of the original. In studying this inquisitorial complaint, I show the reception of Cartesian ideas in New Spain during the eighteenth century.