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Series:   Elements in Environmental Humanities

Beyond the Anthropological Difference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2020

Matthew Calarco
Matthew Calarco
Affiliation:
California State University, Fullerton

Summary

The aim of this Element is to provide a novel framework for gaining a critical grasp on the present situation concerning animals. It offers reflections on resisting the established order as well as suggestions on what forms alternative, pro-animal ways of life might take. The central argument of the book is that the search for an anthropological difference - that is, for a marker of human uniqueness determined by way of a sharp human/animal distinction - should be set aside. In place of this traditional way of differentiating human beings from animals, the author sketches an alternative way of thinking and living in relation to animals based on indistinction, a concept that points toward the unexpected and profound ways in which human beings share in animal life, death, and potentiality. The implications of this approach are then examined in view of practical and theoretical discussions in the environmental humanities and related fields.
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Keywords

anthropocentrismanthropological differenceethologyintersectionalityontology
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Environmental Humanities
Online ISBN: 9781108862769
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 30 July 2020

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Beyond the Anthropological Difference
  • Matthew Calarco, California State University, Fullerton
  • Online ISBN: 9781108862769
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Beyond the Anthropological Difference
  • Matthew Calarco, California State University, Fullerton
  • Online ISBN: 9781108862769
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Beyond the Anthropological Difference
  • Matthew Calarco, California State University, Fullerton
  • Online ISBN: 9781108862769
Available formats
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