Animal Lessons

Kelly Oliver

ISBN 10: 0231147279 / ISBN 13: 9780231147279

Published by University Press Group Ltd Sep 2009, 2009

About this Item

Neuware - 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.

Seller Inventory # 9780231147279

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Animal Lessons
• Publisher: University Press Group Ltd Sep 2009
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0231147279
• ISBN 13: 9780231147279
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 157H x 24D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 157 millimeters height by 24 millimeters depth
• Weight: 523 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Kelly Oliver is Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of more than fifty articles and fifteen books, including Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex, and the Media; The Colonization of Psychic Space: A Psychoanalytic Theory of Oppression; and Family Values: Subjects Between Nature and Culture.