Summary Of Anne Conway's 'Let Us Take A Horse'

Anne Conway: “Let us take a horse, which is a creatures endured with diverse degrees of perfection by his creator, as not only strength of body, but (as I may so say) a certain kind of knowledge, how he ought to serve his master, and moreover also love, fear,courage, memory, and diverse other qualities which are in man:which also we may observe in a dog and many other animals.”

Paraphrase the quote. First we should consider a horse, an animal with various levels of excellence given to it by God. God gave horses not only a physical greatness but also a level of wisdom, these include how they should obey their owner. But horses were also given many human like attributes such as love and memory, these characteristics can also be seen in other animals such as dogs.

2. Quote in context of the text. Conway is laying the groundwork for the rest of her argument through the use of this particular quote. The philosopher explains the manner in which humans and other animals such as horses are alike in essential

Conway categorizes each being through their level of “mutability” ie. changeability. As Conway explains, God is the only being out of the three that is unchangeable, creatures on the other hand are completely changeable for either the better or worse. Christ is the middleman between both extremes. Unlike God, Christ is able to change, but only for the better, thus he is the great mediator between all creatures and the Creator. Conway’s philosophy takes into account that humans and all animals fall under the category of creatures. This means both humans and animals have the ability to undergo change to their essences. Through her focus on the three beings, Conway wants to understand whether humans and animals have the capability to change into one