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Page 115
23167-0115a.GIF
Figure 7.1
Boethius, however, disregards two important differences: (i) the difference, which the Stoics acknowledged clearly, between natural events which "happen" but are not emitted by living beings, such as smoke from fire or a medical symptom, and sounds brought forth by animated creatures; (ii) the difference between sounds emitted intentionally and sounds emitted unintentionallythe infirm wail unintentionally and so do dogs when barking. Or do dogs have an intention to communicate? Boethius says of the horse that "hinnitus quoque eorum saepe alterius equi consuetudinem quaerit," that is, the horse whinnies to call another horse, intentionally and, I suspect, with a precise sexual purpose. Boethius also says that frequently animals emit voices "aliqua significatione preditas," that is, sounds endowed with some meaning. But endowed by whom? By the animal that emits them or by the man who listens? Boethius disregards this question because he has disregarded the difference (i). When one interprets a natural event as a sign, it is the human intention that takes it as something signifying something else.
Thus the dog is put in a very embarrassing situation. It emits voces but emits them naturally. Its voice stands ambiguously midway between a natural event and an intentional utterance: if the dog barks intentionally, it is not clear whether in doing so it intentionally talks to another dog or to a humanwhich, in zoosemiotical terms, is not a minor question. Moreover, does human understand dog (or horse) be-

 
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