Anthropocentrism is a charge of human chauvinism and an acknowledgement of human ontological boundaries. Anthropocentrism has provided order and structure to humansâ understanding of the world, while unavoidably expressing the limits of that understanding. This collection explores the assumptions behind the label âanthropocentrismâ, critically enquiring into the meaning of âhumanâ. It addresses the epistemological and ontological problems of charges of anthropocentrism, questioning whether all human views are inherently anthropocentric. In addition, it examines the potential scope for objective, empathetic, relational, or âotherâ views that trump anthropocentrism. With a principal focus on ethical questions concerning animals, the environment and the social, the essays ultimately cohere around the question of the non-human, be it animal, ecosystem, god, or machine.
Rob Boddice, Ph.D. (2006) in History, University of York, is a member of the Sonderforschungsbereich 640 at Humboldt University, Berlin. He has published widely in the history of human-animal relations, most recently Vivisecting Major', Isis, 101 (2011).
"In quality and scope the essays collected in this volume are compelling additions to the current discussions in this field. Rob Boddice is to be applauded for this well-crafted compilation, which has brought together young scholars with more established writers into a balanced and wholly convincing collection. Its interdisciplinary approach is well matched to the particular demands of this challenging subject matter. Moreover, one of the virtues of this collection is the sustained attention given to the ethical importance of thinking different spheres of the non-human as constitutive of our humanity. Engaging and timely, this collection is a valuable contribution to an increasingly important field of scholarship." - Tracy Colony, European College of Liberal Arts, in: Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy (online)
Introduction The End of Anthropocentrism
Rob Boddice
PART ONE
ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Chapter One What is this Quintessence of Dust? The Concept of the âHumanâ and its Origins
Boria Sax
Chapter Two The View from Somewhere: Anthropocentrism in Metaethics
Kevin M DeLapp
Chapter Three The Making of the Human: Anthropocentrism in Modern Social Thought
Richie Nimmo
Chapter Four Toward a Non-Anthropocentric Cosmopolitanism
Gary Steiner
PART TWO
RELIGION, SOCIETY, CULTURE
Chapter Five Anthropocentrism and the Medieval Problem of Religious Language
Eric Silverman
Chapter Six Vitruvian Man is a Pterosaur: Notes on the Trans-formation of an Architectural Ideal
Paula Young Lee
Chapter Seven Modernity as Anthropolarity: The Human Economy of Frankenstein
Ben Dawson Chapter Eight Anthropocentrism and the Definition of âCultureâ as a Marker of the Human/Animal Divide
Sabrina Tonutti
PART THREE
SPECIESISM AND THE STATUS OF ANIMALS
Chapter Nine Are Animals Poor in the World? A Critique of Heideggerâs Anthropocentrism
Philip Tonner Chapter Ten Speciesism as a Variety of Anthropocentrism
Tony Milligan Chapter Eleven The Instrumentalisation of Horses in Nineteenth-Century Paris
Peter Soppelsa Chapter Twelve Anthropomorphism and the Animal Subject
Nik Taylor
All those working in animal studies, cultural studies, the history of ideas, post-humanism in anthropology sociology, environmental and ecological studies, and ethics. It will appeal to undergraduates and their teachers.