The Importance of Non-Human Animals in Philosophy

Avocenna invokes the faculty of Wachum to explain spurious impressions we form, including those that we can hardly resist even when we know they are wrong. The word Wachum also has a more negative connotation: It can refer to a misleading or wrong-headed notion. One of many subplots in the history of philosophy and science is the debate about how much we have in common with animals.