Over the centuries since antiquity, nature writers have evaluated different animal species. One criterion for such an evaluation has been intellect. At the lowest point on the scale of intellectual abilities was stupidity. Ancient authors often attributed inadequate intellect to various animal species by using pejorative expressions. The aim of this study is to determine which animal species Greek and Roman writers considered as inferior in the hierarchy of intellectual abilities, and why these species were chosen in particular. Furthermore, the paper attempts to verify the evaluations formulated in antiquity in light of contemporary observations of nature.

The fact that ethnographical collections, often ancient, are preserved in archaeological museums nowadays might not be obvious. The material culture of living societies is not, indeed, the priority of archaeologists, who are mainly interested in societies of the past. However, a museological and historical approach makes it possible to study these collections and highlight their differential management according to institutions and epistemological developments in the human sciences, since the middle of the 19th century.

The problem of evil is unavoidable and largely incomprehensible, and it is exactly for that reason that it is of great importance for our being. This aspect of Tischner’s philosophy can be successfully shown using the example of Andrei Srubov, the protagonist of The Chekist. By looking at Tischner’s agathology we receive hope that we are not doomed to be defeated by evil within our lifetime. What seems to be crucial in opposing evil is the realization that there is always a decision to be made.