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The speaking animal : ethics, language and the human-animal divide / Alison Suen.

Van Pelt Library HV4708 .S84 2015
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Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Suen, Alison, author.
Contributor:
Benjamin Franklin Library Fund.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Animal rights--Philosophy.
Animal rights.
Speciesism--Philosophy.
Speciesism.
Speech--Philosophy.
Speech.
Animal communication--Philosophy.
Animal communication.
Philosophy.
Physical Description:
ix, 138 pages ; 23 cm
Place of Publication:
London ; New York. : Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd., 2015.
Summary:
Animals regularly populate philosophical texts as a foil to illustrate what it means to be human. How should we understand this human-animal divide? Not only does it inform us of who we are, it also tells us how we should relate to the larger non-human world. The Speaking Animal interrogates the human-animal divide by looking at our linguistic differences-how the speaking human subject is constructed through its opposition to the dumb animal. Alison Suen begins with an analysis of the role of language in animal ethics, with an eye toward the voice/voiceless opposition that is at work in animal advocacy. After offering a critical analysis of the ethical and political significance of speaking for animals, this book takes on a more constructive turn, going against the usual interpretation of language as a capacity that allows us to reason. Instead, it argues that our language capacity is also a relational capacity. Language is that which enables us to develop kinship with others-including animal others. Book jacket.
Contents:
Giving animals a hearing: rights discourse and animal representation in animal ethics
From animal father to animal mother: a Freudian account of animal care ethics
The poverty of kinship: Heidegger on the human-animal linguistic divide
Animal identity: the problem of difference in the animal rights discourse
Racializing cruelty: dehumanization in the name of animal advocacy.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Local Notes:
Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Benjamin Franklin Library Fund.
ISBN:
1783485124
9781783485116
1783485116
9781783485123
OCLC:
910856404
Publisher Number:
99965177489

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