Buridan’s Ass is a paradox of philosophy in the conception of free will:
It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein an ass is placed midway between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Since the paradox assumes the ass will always go to whichever is closer, it will die of both hunger and thirst as it cannot make any rational decision to choose one over the other.
It satirises French Philosopher Jean Buridan’s philosophy of moral determinism.
The paradox assumes that an ass has free will and rational choice but no intelligence.
In actuality a donkey would never die of starvation in the presence of both hay and water.
This is because all animals, with the possible exception of some apes and domesticated animals, act instinctively and intuitively without the capacity for either free will or rational logic.
To assume that the absence of rational thought renders one stupid is a logical assumption that lacks the common sense of intuitive reason.
Whereas Buridan’s critics were capable of being an ass, Buridan’s donkey was not.