Saturday, May 12, 2018

Neis on likeness and reproduction in the Mishnah

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: When Species Meet in the Mishnah (R.R. Neis).
In what follows, I highlight several sources that point to a rabbinic theory of reproduction that has a weak commitment to the dictates of mimetic resemblance. This theory accommodates -- if uneasily-- non-like progeny as members of their parents’ kind. It does this, in part, by recognizing likeness across kinds. Moreover, it embeds humans among other kinds, not only conceptually or comparatively but also gestationally, into the heart of the reproductive process.
This is the first essay in the new AJR Animal Forum.

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