November 2013
Beginner
384 pages
11h 28m
English

From the texts that accompany Leonardo’s anatomical drawings we know that he considered the human body as an animal body, as biologists do today. He often transferred what he learned from numerous dissections of animals to the human body (see p. 227). But beyond these pragmatic aspects, Leonardo’s anatomical studies of animals were grounded in a profound respect and compassion for all living creatures.1 Thus it seemed natural for him, as Domenico Laurenza observes, “to give equal ontological and scientific dignity to humans and animals.”2
Leonardo used his animal dissections to gain knowledge about human ...