Alice Crary, Radical Animal

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Alice Crary, Radical Animal This book brings out how concern about the plight of animals is necessary for combating not only animals’ mistreatment but also the oppression of vulnerable humans, and it proceeds by exploring productive responses to some of the many—historical and current—patterns of belief and practice in which groups of humans beings are subjugated by means of invidious comparisons to animals or animalized. For publications that anticipate the book’s guiding narrative, as well as its treatment of animalization on the basis of cognitive ability and race, see: “Dehumanization and the Question of Animals,” in Maria Kronfeldner, ed., Routledge Handbook on Dehumanization, London: Routledge, forthcoming. “Seeing Animal Suffering,” in Maria Balaska, ed., Cora Diamond on Ethics, London: Palgrave McMillan, forthcoming. “Animals, Cognitive Disability and Getting the World in Focus in Ethics and Social Thought: Reply to Eva Feder Kittay and Peter Singer,” Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie, 2019, vol.2, no.1: 139-146. This is my response to Singer’s and Kittay’s remarks on my article “The Horrific History of Comparisons between Cognitive Disability and Animality (And How to Move Past it)”. “Comments on a Contested Comparison: Race and Animals,” in Oskari Kuusela and Benjamin De Mesel, Ethics in the Wake of Wittgenstein, London: Routledge, 2019. A German translation of this article will also appear as “Animalität und Ethnizität,” Malte Fabian Rauch, trans., in Martin Hähnel und Jörg Noller, eds., Die Natur der Lebensform: Perspektiven in Biologie, Ontologie und Praktischer Philosophie. “The Horrific History of Comparisons Between Animals and Cognitively Disabled Human Beings (and How to Move Past it)” in Lori Gruen and Fiona Probyn Rapsey, eds., Animaladies, Bloomsbury, 2018. .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Against 'Effective Altruism'
Against ‘Effective Altruism’ Alice Crary Effective Altruism (EA) is a programme for rationalising for the most part adopt the attitude that they have no charitable giving, positioning individuals to do the ‘most serious critics and that sceptics ought to be content with good’ per expenditure of money or time. It was first for- their ongoing attempts to fine-tune their practice. mulated – by two Oxford philosophers just over a decade It is a posture belied by the existence of formidable ago–as an application of the moral theory consequential- critical resources both inside and outside the philosoph- ism, and from the outset one of its distinctions within ical tradition in which EA originates. In light of the undis- the philanthropic world was expansion of the class of puted impact of EA, and its success in attracting idealistic charity-recipients to include non-human animals. EA young people, it is important to forcefully make the case has been the target of a fair bit of grumbling, and even that it owes its success primarily not to the – question- some mockery, from activists and critics on the left, who able – value of its moral theory but to its compatibility associate consequentialism with depoliticising tenden- with political and economic institutions responsible for cies of welfarism. But EA has mostly gotten a pass, with some of the very harms it addresses. The sincere ded- many detractors concluding that, however misguided, its ication of many individual adherents notwithstanding, efforts to get bankers, tech entrepreneurs and the like to reflection on EA reveals a straightforward example of give away their money cost-effectively does no serious moral corruption.
[Show full text]
I Am in Training: Wittgenstein on Language Acquisition Megan J
150 Wittgenstein on Language Acquisition I Am in Training: Wittgenstein on Language Acquisition Megan J. Laverty Teachers College, Columbia University Norm Friesen’s analysis of Wittgenstein as a tragic philosopher of education draws upon an understanding of Wittgenstein’s German influences: Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Karl Kraus, Alfred Loos, Otto Wininger, and Oswald Spengler. According to Friesen, these influences share “a dark view of the world and our place within it,” which inspired Wittgenstein’s deeply pessimistic philosophy of education. Friesen argues that Wittgenstein deliberately brings the experience of learning a language into relation with the way “we talk of an animal being trained to do certain things” in order to highlight that the process of becom- ing a cultured or “conventionalized” being — otherwise known as humanization — necessarily entails “renunciation and brutality.” Friesen may be right that En- glish-speaking philosophers of education have failed to appreciate the full force of Wittgenstein on Abrichtung — the breaking in of an animal by means of obedience training or dressage — but he does not go all the way to establishing that Abrichtung is characteristically brutal and harsh. Wittgenstein uses the word Abrichtung to describe language learning and ed- ucation. As Wolfgang Huemer explains, in German the term is “exclusively used for animals, for training dogs to sit down on the command ‘sit,’ or horses to gallop when the rider performs a certain bodily movement.”1 Thus, to German speakers, Wittgenstein’s suggestion that “we have to abrichten our children” seems quite drastic; it implies that children are animals. According to Friesen, English-speaking philos- ophers of education are inclined to explain away Wittgenstein’s reliance upon the term, and so make his philosophy of education appear far more progressive than it is.
[Show full text]
CRITICAL TERMS for ANIMAL STUDIES
CRITICAL TERMS for ANIMAL STUDIES Edited by LORI GRUEN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Chicago and London Contents Introduction • Lori Gruen 1 1 Abolition • Claire Jean Kim 15 2 Activism • Jeff Sebo and Peter Singer 33 3 Anthropocentrism • Fiona Probyn- Rapsey 47 4 Behavior • Alexandra Horowitz 64 5 Biopolitics • Dinesh Joseph Wadiwel 79 6 Captivity • Lori Marino 99 7 Difference • Kari Weil 112 8 Emotion • Barbara J. King 125 9 Empathy • Lori Gruen 141 10 Ethics • Alice Crary 154 11 Extinction • Thom van Dooren 169 12 Kinship • Agustín Fuentes and Natalie Porter 182 13 Law • Kristen Stilt 197 14 Life • Eduardo Kohn 210 15 Matter • James K. Stanescu 222 16 Mind • Kristin Andrews 234 17 Pain • Victoria A. Braithwaite 251 18 Personhood • Colin Dayan 267 19 Postcolonial • Maneesha Deckha 280 20 Rationality • Christine M. Korsgaard 294 21 Representation • Robert R. McKay 307 22 Rights • Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson 320 23 Sanctuary • Timothy Pachirat 337 24 Sentience • Gary Varner 356 25 Sociality • Cynthia Willett and Malini Suchak 370 26 Species • Harriet Ritvo 383 27 Vegan • Annie Potts and Philip Armstrong 395 28 Vulnerability • Anat Pick 410 29 Welfare • Clare Palmer and Peter Sandøe 424 Acknowledgments 439 List of Contributors 441 Index 451 INTRODUCTION Lori Gruen Animal Studies is almost always described as a new, emerging, and growing field. A short while ago some Animal Studies scholars suggested that it “has a way to go before it can clearly see itself as an academic field” (Gorman 2012). Other scholars suggest that the “discipline” is a couple of decades old (DeMello 2012).
[Show full text]
Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum EDUCATION 1964-1966 Wellesley College 1966-1967 New York University, School of the Arts 1967-1969 New York University, Washington Square College. B.A. 1969. 1969-1975 Harvard University, M.A. 1971, Ph.D. 1975 (Classical Philology) 1972-1975 Harvard University, Society of Fellows, Junior Fellow 1973-1974 St. Hugh's College, Oxford University: Honorary Member of Senior Common Room EMPLOYMENT 1999-- University of Chicago, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics Appointed in Law School and Philosophy Department, 2012 -- Appointed in: Law School, Philosophy Department, and Divinity School, -2012 Associate Member, Classics Department (1995 -- ) Associate Member, Department of Political Science (2003 -- ) Associate Member, Divinity School, (2012 --) Member, Committee on Southern Asian Studies (Affiliate 1999 –2005, full Member 2006--) Board Member,, Center for Gender Studies 1999-2002 Board Member, Human Rights Program, 2002--; Co-Chair, 2007-8; Founder and Coordinator, Center for Comparative Constitutionalism, 2002 – 2007 (spring) Visiting Professor of Law and Classics, Harvard University 2004 (spring) Visiting Professor, Centre for Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India 1996-1998 University of Chicago, Ernst Freund Professor of Law and Ethics (Appointed in Law School, Philosophy Department, and Divinity School, Associate in Classics) 1996 (spring) Oxford University, Weidenfeld Visiting Professor 1995-1996 University of Chicago, Professor of Law and Ethics (Appointed in Law School,
[Show full text]
Alice Crary, Wittgenstein and the Moral Life
Alice Crary, Wittgenstein and the Moral Life review by Francesco Pesci «The essays in this volume celebrate the philosophical writings of Cora Diamond» (p. 1). These are the words with which Alice Crary opens this interesting, varied and rich book. Under this common description we find eleven different contributions by some of the most important contemporary Angloamerican philosophers. Each of them has shared, more or less directly, part of his or her own intellectual biography with Cora Diamond and here takes up a particular theme in Diamond's writings. As the title suggests and as Crary reminds us in the Introduction, two main issues must be taken into account in order to have an overview of Diamond's impact: her exegetical work on early and late Wittgenstein in cooperation with James Conant – which goes under the label of 'resolute reading' – and her original and unconventional reflections on moral philosophy. The book is divided into two sections along these lines. The first, entitled Wittgenstein (pp. 27-278), contains essays by Conant, Kremer, Floyd, Putnam and Finkelstein. The second, entitled The Moral Life (pp. 279-404), contains essays by Cavell, McDowell, Lovibond, Nussbaum, Mulhall and Crary. Although the thematic division of the book tries to give it some organization, the reader cannot avoid a certain sense of fragmentation among the chapters which, far from being inevitable in a collective volume, makes it difficult to give a synthetic and comprehensive outline of the book. This is certainly an excellent book and a valid instrument to start assessing the outcome of Diamond's work as a whole and to evaluate Diamond's influence on contemporary philosophy.
[Show full text]
Editors' Introduction
Editors’ Introduction Extending the Boundaries of “The Ethical” I also think that quite clearly, even if it is not as simple as that, even if animals are not considered as human beings, the ethical extends to living beings. I really think so. —Emmanuel Levinas, “The Animal Interview” Since the topic of Levinas and animals has by now received rather a lot of attention, the reader may be wondering why we felt compelled to compile this volume of essays. The short answer is that though Levinas’s neglect of animals in his philosophical work has already been subject to repeated criticism,1 the majority of commentators and critics still write as though Levinas’s “profound anthropocentrism and humanism”2 rather than a serious flaw in need of remedy, were entirely justified. Most take it for granted that it is not possible for the Other to be anything other than human. Only posterity knows whether this will ever change, though it looks unlikely that it will. This is not due to any deficiencies in the arguments for including animals within the scope of Levinas’s ethics. It is probably because the force behind the conviction that humans are the center of the moral universe is more affective than philosophical, and wells from the same source as what Freud called “the universal narcissism of men.” But even if a single collection of essays like this one is unlikely to make much of a difference here, it behooves us as academics to keep reminding ourselves that the animal question is a live one and as long as an ethics like Levinas’s does not take the question into account, then so much the worse for it philosophically.
[Show full text]
Wittgenstein and Nietzsche: Two Critics of Philosophy
Wittgenstein and Nietzsche: Two Critics of Philosophy by Anu Koshal Graduate Program in Literature Duke University Date: July 23, 2010 Approved: ___________________________ Toril Moi, Supervisor __________________________ Richard Fleming __________________________ V.Y. Mudimbe __________________________ Michael Hardt Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Literature in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 ABSTRACT Wittgenstein and Nietzsche: Two Critics of Philosophy by Anu Koshal Graduate Program in Literature Duke University Date: July 23, 2010 Approved: ___________________________ Toril Moi, Supervisor __________________________ Richard Fleming __________________________ V.Y. Mudimbe __________________________ Michael Hardt An abstract submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Literature in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 ii Copyright by Anu Koshal 2010 iii ABSTRACT Few philosophers have been more critical of the Western philosophical tradition than Friedrich Nietzsche and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Nietzsche and Wittgenstein did not just reject the conclusions of their philosophical predecessors; they rejected their most basic assumptions. They rejected the very idea of philosophy as the attempt to rationally develop objective theories of the world. And yet Wittgenstein and Nietzsche have now been absorbed into the discipline they wanted to abolish. This dissertation attempts to recapture the force and extent of their respective criticisms of philosophy, and evaluate their conceptions of what philosophy should be. I begin by examining Wittgenstein’s claim that philosophical problems rest on a misunderstanding of language. I show that this claim does not entail a quietist refusal to engage in philosophical problems, as many have argued.
[Show full text]
Tractatus Is Not
CHAPTER 2 RELIGION WITT 13/10/04 1:13 pm Page 39 Chapter 2 What ‘Ethics’ in the Tractatus is Not James Conant If someone believes himself to have discovered the solution to the problem of life … then in order to refute himself he need only reflect that there was a time when this ‘solution’ had not been discovered; but it must have been possible to live then too…. And that is the position in which we find ourselves in logic. If there comes to seem to be a ‘solution’ to logical (philosophical) problems, we should need only to caution ourselves that there was a time when they had not been solved (and even at that time people must have been able to live and think). Wittgenstein1 I: Ethics and Logic Why does philosophy matter? Different conceptions of philosophy yield very different answers to this question. On one prevalent understanding of why philosophy matters, our ability to lead successful lives depends upon our being able to deploy the right sort of theory about how to live and think. Thus it is not uncommon for moral philosophers to understand their task to be one of seeking to furnish a theory whose application will enable us to solve fundamental ethical dilemmas; and it is not uncommon for philosophers of logic to understand their task to be one of seeking to furnish a theory whose application will enable us to solve fundamental intellectual problems. Such an understanding can easily lead to a very particular conception of why philosophy matters – and thus, in the cases of the moral philosopher or the philosopher of logic, to particular conceptions of the relation between the respective activities of these types of philosopher and our everyday struggles to live well and think clearly.
[Show full text]
Political Epistemology and Social Critique Sally Haslanger MIT Abstract Under Conditions of Ideology, a Standard Model of Normat
Forthcoming in Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy Political Epistemology and Social Critique Sally Haslanger MIT Abstract Under conditions of ideology, a standard model of normative political epistemology – relying on a domain-specific reflective equilibrium – risks status-quo bias. How do we undertake ideology critique? How is a critical standpoint achieved and what grounds its claims? One way of achieving a critical standpoint is through consciousness raising. Consciousness raising offers a paradigm shift in our understanding of the social world; but not all epistemic practices that appear to “raise” consciousness, are warranted. However, under certain conditions sketched in the paper, consciousness raising produces a warranted critical standpoint and a pro tanto claim against others. This is an important epistemic achievement, yet under conditions of collective self-governance, there is no guarantee that all warranted claims can be met simultaneously. There will be winners and losers even after legitimate democratic processes have been followed. Keywords Social critique, critical theory, non-ideal theory, consciousness raising, oppositional consciousness, moral epistemology, justice. Haslanger 26 May 2020 Political Epistemology and Social Critique Sally Haslanger Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1. Introduction My recent work defends a practice-based account of ideology. Social practices and social structures depend on a collection of social meanings – I call this a cultural technē – that provides a “stage- setting” for action and is a constituent part of the local social-regulation system (e.g., Haslanger 2018; 2017a; 2017b). These cultural technēs enable us to coordinate by providing the paths and signals of our practices. An ideology is a cultural technē “gone wrong.” It prevents us from recognizing or creating forms of value, and/or, organizes us in unjust ways.
[Show full text]
2021 APA Eastern Division Meeting Program
The American Philosophical Association EASTERN DIVISION ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING PROGRAM VIRTUAL MEETING JANUARY 7 – 9, 2021 AND JANUARY 14 – 16, 2021 Use Coupon Code ZAPE21 to Save 30% (PB)/50% (HC) THROUGH FEBRUARY 16, 2021 ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.SUNYPRESS.EDU Critique in German Philosophy The Aesthetic Clinic From Kant to Critical Theory Feminine Sublimation in Contemporary María del Rosario Acosta López and Writing, Psychoanalysis, and Art J. Colin McQuillan, editors Fernanda Negrete The Primary Way The Disintegration of Community Philosophy of Yijing On Jorge Portilla’s Social and Political Chung-ying Cheng Philosophy, With Translations Foreword by Robert Cummings Neville of Selected Essays Carlos Alberto Sánchez and Jouissance Francisco Gallegos, editors A Lacanian Concept Néstor A. Braunstein Endangered Excellence Translation and Introduction by On the Political Philosophy of Aristotle Silvia Rosman Pierre Pellegrin Translated by Anthony Preus Epistemic Responsibility Lorraine Code A World Not Made for Us Topics in Critical Environmental Philosophy Manufactured Uncertainty Keith R. Peterson Implications for Climate Change Skepticism Recovering the Liberal Spirit Lorraine Code Nietzsche, Individuality, and Spiritual Freedom On Metaphysical Necessity Steven F. Pittz Essays on God, the World, Morality, and Democracy Adult Life Franklin I. Gamwell Aging, Responsibility, and the Pursuit of Happiness Carl Schmitt between John Russon Technological Rationality and Theology Modernity as Exception The Position and Meaning and Miracle
[Show full text]
Wittgenstein and the Moral Life: Essays in Honor of Cora Diamond" Edited by A
Swarthmore College Works Philosophy Faculty Works Philosophy 4-1-2008 Review Of "Wittgenstein And The Moral Life: Essays In Honor Of Cora Diamond" Edited By A. Crary Richard Thomas Eldridge Swarthmore College, reldrid1@swarthmore.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-philosophy Part of the Philosophy Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation Richard Thomas Eldridge. (2008). "Review Of "Wittgenstein And The Moral Life: Essays In Honor Of Cora Diamond" Edited By A. Crary". Ethics. Volume 118, Issue 3. 543-549. DOI: 10.1086/587764 https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-philosophy/65 This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact myworks@swarthmore.edu. Alice Crary, ed., Wittgenstein and the Moral Life: Essays in Honor of Cora Diamond Wittgenstein and the Moral Life: Essays in Honor of Cora Diamond by Alice Crary, Review by: Reviewed by Richard Eldridge Ethics, Vol. 118, No. 3, Symposium on Agency (April 2008), pp. 543-549 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/587764 . Accessed: 17/02/2015 14:22 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive.
[Show full text]
To Begin at the Beginning: Wittgenstein and the Problem of Metaphysics Michael R
Maine State Library Maine State Documents Academic Research and Dissertations Special Collections 6-2012 To Begin at the Beginning: Wittgenstein and the Problem of Metaphysics Michael R. Smith Jr. IDSVA Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalmaine.com/academic Recommended Citation Smith, Michael R. Jr., "To Begin at the Beginning: Wittgenstein and the Problem of Metaphysics" (2012). Academic Research and Dissertations. Book 2. http://digitalmaine.com/academic/2 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at Maine State Documents. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Research and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Maine State Documents. For more information, please contact statedocs@maine.gov. TO BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING: WITTGENSTEIN AND THE PROBLEM OF METAPHYSICS Michael R. Smith, Jr. Submitted to the faculty of The Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy June, 2012 Accepted by the faculty of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________ George Smith, Ph.D. Doctoral Committee ______________________________ Simonetta Moro, Ph.D. ______________________________ Sigrid Hackenberg, Ph.D. June 15, 2012 ii © 2012 Michael R. Smith, Jr. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii It is so difficult to find the beginning. Or, better: it is difficult to begin at the beginning. And not try to go further back. –LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN, On Certainty Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Giving thanks is at once a humbling and precarious activity.
[Show full text]