What did La Mettrie believe humans and nonhuman animals have in common?
Julien de La Mettrie was a French philosopher, physician and one of the French materialists. He rejected Descartes’s view over separate mind and body.
According to La Mettrie, mind is much more related to the body and whatever influences the body, influences the thought processes. He was one of the first modern philosophers who suggested, “You are what you eat”.
In his work, he also mentioned that human are superior to non-human animals only because of the development of language and the education. According to him, with proper training, even apes can act like humans.
He pointed out that the brain of animals is also large and complex as the human brains. He said that the behavior of the animals resembles human almost in all aspects.
He said that the brain complexity is more in humans than animals because they undergo education and are taught language. Education according to La Mettire is not the instruction but it includes the everyday experiences and interactions with people. He concluded that animals are also like humans in morality and they differ only in degree and not in type.