Language, Ethics and Animal Life Wittgenstein and Beyond

by Forsberg, Niklas; Burley, Mikel; Hämäläinen, Nora

• ISBN13: 9781628922363
• ISBN10: 1628922362
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-09-25
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

A number of factors-new research into human and animal consciousness, a heightened awareness of the methods and consequences of intensive farming, and modern concerns about animal welfare and ecology-have made our relationship to animals an area of burning interest in contemporary philosophy. Utilizing methods inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein, the contributors to this volume explore this area in a variety of ways.

Topics discussed include:

* scientific vs. non-scientific ways of describing human and animal behaviour
* the ethics of eating particular animal species
* human nature, emotions, and instinctive reactions
* responses of wonder towards the natural world
* the moral relevance of literature
* the concept of dignity
* the question of whether non-human animals can use language

This book will be of great value to anyone interested in philosophical and interdisciplinary issues concerning language, ethics and humanity's relation to animals and the natural world.

Author Biography

Mikel Burley is Lecturer in Religion and Philosophy at the University of Leeds, UK. His previous publications include two books on Indian philosophy, and articles on, among other things, philosophy of religion, ethics, literature, and reincarnation.
Nora Hämäläinen is post-doctoral researcher and temporary lecturer in philosophy at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and former editor-in-chief of the Helsinki-based cultural weekly Ny Tid. She has written about ethics, literature and the nature of moral theory.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors

Introduction
Niklas Forsberg

1. Humanizing Nonhumans: Ape Language Research as Critique of Metaphysics Pär Segerdahl

2. Ethics and Language: What We Owe to Speakers David Cockburn

3. The Difficulty of Language: Wittgenstein on Animals and Humans Nancy E. Baker

4. Rape among the Panorpidae, Spouse Abuse among the Mantis Religiosa, and Other 'Reproductive Strategies' in the Animal and Human World Olli Lagerspetz

5. Three Perspectives on Altruism
Ylva Gustafsson

6. Talking about Emotion
Camilla Kronqvist

7. Man as a Moral Animal: Moral Language-Games, Certainty, and the Emotions Julia Hermann

8. Living with Animals, Living as an Animal Anne Le Goff

9. What's Wrong with a Bite of Dog?
Rami Gudovitch

10. Second Nature and Animal Life
Stefano Di Brisco

11. Wittgenstein, Wonder and Attention to Animals Mikel Burley

12. Honour, Dignity and the Realm of Meaning Nora Hämäläinen

13. W. G. Sebald and the Ethics of Narrative Alice Crary

Bibliography
Index