Eccentricity James Burnett, Lord Monboddo

lord monboddo, caricature john kay

the orangutan @ time generic term types of apes. swedish explorer evidence burnett accepted naval officer had viewed group of monkeys , thought human. burnett may have taken view reasonable people assume things , word of naval officer trained give accurate reports credible source. burnett indeed responsible changing classical definition of man creature of reason creature capable of achieving reason although viewed process 1 slow , difficult achieve.

at 1 time said humans must have been born tails, removed midwives @ birth. contemporaries ridiculed views, , 1773 had retracted opinion (pringle 1773). later commentators have seen him anticipating evolutionary theory. appeared argue animal species adapted , changed survive, , observations on progression of primates man amounted kind of concept of evolution. burnett examined feral children , thinker of day accept them human rather monsters. viewed in these children ability achieve reason. identified orangutan human sources indicated capable of experiencing shame.

interestingly, in 2015 orangutan sandra first legally recognised non-human person , paving way apes , other animals recognised having rights equal humans.