Abstract

Is the classification of nonhuman living beings universal across different languages and cultures? Do we, or should we, as human beings, all perceive and categorize the natural world in the same way? Even though “nature” ostensibly provides all humans with the same objective view, extant sources from antiquity suggest otherwise. A comparative study of the taxonomy of animals and plants in ancient Greece and early China reveals the ambiguity and diversity of human cognition of, and vocabulary for describing and explaining, the natural world and its “order”. Early Chinese sources demonstrate a unique way of perceiving, understanding, classifying and interpreting non-human beings: no equivalent to what is traditionally called (Aristotle’s) “zoology” or (Theophrastus’) “botany” is found. There is even no single character or word in Classical Chinese synonymous with the Greek “zōa” (animal) or “phuta” (plant). Did they lack a (proto-)scientific view? Or, were they right in suggesting that nonhuman living beings cannot be divided into such simple categories? The ancient Chinese may offer an interesting alternative view of the continuity, and even the unclassifiability, of different “species”.