Help on Paper Topic

As I've been scavenging about for a paper topic, I keep coming back to the "Talking Animals" section of our syllabus. Possibly because I'm a child at heart, I'm very interested in getting to write a paper about stories or fables. That said, I have absolutely no experience (before this class, anyway) with medieval literature, so I'm not always sure what's viable. I've come up with a couple of different ideas on how I could approach a paper about talking animals in literature. I'd be very grateful if you all would look at the ideas and let me know which ones you think will be most viable or interesting (and any source ideas you have!).

Idea 1:

My first idea was spawned by Albertus Magnus. Albertus states that animals all act in the same general ways (because of the "natural powers" which dictate the passions and actions of a species)¹. This general way of thinking about the actions of animals (that they have predictable and common habits and actions) should carry over into literature. For instance, if there are two foxes in a fable, they should have similar personality characteristics and perform similar actions.

However, we come into further complexity when we talk about talking animals. Speech, at least in the modern sense, conveys intelligence and memory (and probably free will). We choose what to say, formulate it based on our intelligence, and often reference memories of prior events or knowledge and extrapolate them to the current situation. Although medieval scholars indicate animals can produce sounds to communicate certain things (Albertus, for instance, states that birds make certain sounds when searching for a mate), I doubt any of them would have called this "speech". Similarly, although Albertus talks about training animals, he does not express any belief that this learning indicates an understanding of speech similar to that of humans. According to Aristotle's tripartite model of the soul (which Albertus uses), although animals have sensory abilities and some cognitive ones (estimation, imagination, memory of a sort), animals do not have higher reasoning abilities like intelligence and free will ².

What Pascal Said

H'llo, y'all. 

So I was thinking about my paper last night and then I was reading Pascal (1623-62) and then I was having this thought.

See, Pascal says this:

"

It is dangerous to make man too aware that he is on the same level as animals without demonstrating to him his greatness. It is also dangerous to make him too aware of his greatness without showing him his baseness. It is even more dangerous to leave him ignorant of either state, but very helpful to demonstrate both of them to him.

Man must not think he is on a level with either beasts or angels, and he must not be ignorant of those levels, but he should know both. 

" - Pg. 38 (of the 1995 Oxford World Classics edition of the Pensees, translated by Honor Levi)

Animals in Court

I was doing random searches trying to find possible bibliographical data for my paper and came across a couple of webpages dealing with the trial and/or execution of animals for a variety of offenses against humans as well as witnesses and character references! Punishment for guilty animals included exile, excommunication, execution, and damnation and consideration was taken by the court regarding age, sex and infirmity, just as if the animal was human. If animals don't have the rational soul with gives them free will, intellect, and memory, how can they be held accountable for their actions in a court of law? By thier very actions, they are fulfilling the existence that God created them for, so how can that be considered a crime? I'm very curious as to the logic of this since - from what i can tell - this was not an extremely rare occurence. Yet it seems to clash with the whole system of logic that was in place during this time period regarding the place of animals in the medieval world.

LRW

PS: I've already decided on a topic for my paper and since I'm a MAPSS student, i am keeping it semi focused on my larger thesis. Therefore, i can't use this idea but it would make for such an entertaining paper i can't resist putting the idea out there for someone else to use (if you are having difficulties coming up with a paper topic).

Research Paper Brainstorming Ideas

After attending class this past week and upon reading  our discussion assignments,

I aimed to decide upon a paper topic and to begin researching as soon as possible. Our discussions have definitely sparked several ideas into my mind about the topics I would like to research. Despite that, I am still greatly undecided and will appreciate any advice or comments from classmates upon my present ideas.

I first thought of researching more about a quite domestic animal, the lamb, based not only upon the fact that I grew up around them when I was little and have always had an affinity for them, but also because it takes up such a central position within the Catholic religion. I looked within the index of the Brigitte Resl text, and browsed through the pages that made reference to lambs. I really thought it was interesting how often the lamb came into context within religion as a symbol of God and the divine, and yet it was rarely used within daily life beyond the use of its skin. I also had an inkling to research the origin of the lamb as a symbol of divinity, since we rarely see such a domestic animal taking on this grand type of symbolism. Usually lions, doves, eagles, panthers, and leopards and other more extraordinary animals are considered perfect and divine.