Onto-ethologies : the animal environments of Uexkull, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze / Brett Buchanan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buchanan, Brett, 1975-

Series:

SUNY series in environmental philosophy and ethics.

SUNY series in environmental philosophy and ethics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy of nature.

Naturalness (Environmental sciences).

Animals (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 223 pages)

Place of Publication:

Albany : SUNY Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

German biologist Jakob von Uexkull focused on how an animal, through its behavioral relations, both impacts and is impacted by its own unique environment. Onto-Ethologies traces the influence of Uexkull's ideas on the thought of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Gilles Deleuze, as they explore how animal behavior might be said to approximate, but also differ from, human behavior. It is the relation between animal and environment that interests Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze, and yet it is the differences in their approach to Uexkull (and to concepts such as world, body, and affect) that prove so fascinating. This book explores the ramifications of these encounters, including how animal life both broadens and deepens the ontological significance of their respective philosophies.

Contents:

1. Jakob von Uexküll's theories of life

Biography and historical background

Nature's conformity with plan

Umweltforschung

Biosemiotics

Concluding remarks

2. Marking a path into the environments of animals

The essential approach to the animal

Heidegger and the biologists

Three paths to the world

3. Disruptive behavior : Heidegger and the captivated animal

The worldless stone

The poor animal

Three bees and a lark

Animal morphology

A shocking wealth

A fine line in the rupture of time

An affected body

4. The theme of the animal melody : Merleau-Ponty and the umwelt

The structure of behavior

A pure wake, a quiet force

A leaf of being

Interanimality

5. The-animal-stalks-at-five-o'clock : Deleuze's affection for Uexküll

Problematic organisms

Uexküll's ethology of affects

The body without organs, the embryonic egg, and prebiotic soup

Nature's refrain sung across milieus and territories

The animal stalks.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-216) and index.

ISBN:

9780791477465

0791477460

9781435695474

143569547X

OCLC:

923406711