Animal lessons
Subtitle: how they teach us to be human
By: Kelly Oliver.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 364
ISBN-13: 9780231147262; 9780231520492
Subjects: Animals (Philosophy); Human-animal relationships; Human beings -- Animal nature; Philosophical anthropology
Description: "Philosophy reads humanity against animality, arguing that "man" is man because he is separate from beast. Deftly challenging this position, Kelly Oliver proves that, in fact, it is the animal that teaches us to be human. Through their sex, their habits, and our perception of their purpose, animals show us how not to be them. This kinship plays out in a number of ways. We sacrifice animals to establish human kinship, but without the animal, the bonds of "brotherhood" fall apart. Either kinship with animals is possible or kinship with humans is impossible. Philosophy holds that humans and animals are distinct, but in defending this position, the discipline depends on a discourse that relies on the animal for its very definition of the human. Through these and other examples, Oliver does more than just establish an animal ethics. She transforms ethics by showing how its very origin is dependent upon the animal. Examining for the first time the treatment of the animal in the work of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Agamben, Freud, Lacan, and Kristeva, among others, Animal Lessons argues that the animal bites back, thereby reopening the question of the animal for philosophy."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The role of animals in philosophies of man; title: Part I: What's wrong with animal rights?; title: The right to remain silent; title: Part II: Animal pedagogy; title: You are what you eat : Rousseau's cat; title: Say the human responded : Herder's sheep; title: Part III: Difference worthy of its name; title: Hair of the dog : Derrida's and Rousseau's good taste; title: Sexual difference, animal difference : Derrida's sexy silkworm; title: Part IV: It's our fault; title: The beaver's struggle with species-being : De Beauvoir and the praying mantis; title: Answering the call of nature : Lacan walking the dog; title: Part V: Estranged kinship; title: The abyss between humans and animals : Heidegger puts the bee in being; title: Strange kinship : Merleau-Ponty's sensuous stickleback; title: Stopping the anthropological machine : Agamben's tick-tocking tick; title: Psychoanalysis and the science of kinship; title: Psychoanalysis as animal by-product : Freud's zoophilia; title: Animal abjects, maternal abjects : Kristeva's strays; title: Conclusion: Sustainable ethics.