Language, Ethics and Animal Life

Wittgenstein and Beyond

Niklas Forsberg, Mikel Burley, Nora Hämäläinen, Niklas Forsberg, Mikel Burley, Nora Hämäläinen

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781628922363
• eBook ISBN:
  9781441155689
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

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 are among the factors that 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; and the question 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Different Forms of Forms of Life: A Philosophical Introduction Niklas Forsberg
• 1 Humanizing Nonhumans: Ape Language Research as Critique of MetaphysicsPär Segerdahl
• 2 Ethics and Language: What we Owe to SpeakersDavid Cockburn
• 3 The Difficulty of Language: Wittgenstein on Animals and HumansNancy E. Baker
• 4 Rape among Scorpionflies, Spouse Abuse among the Praying Mantis and Other ‘Reproductive Strategies’ in the Animal and Human WorldOlli Lagerspetz
• 5 Three Perspectives on AltruismYlva Gustafsson
• 6 Talking about EmotionsCamilla Kronqvist
• 7 Man as a Moral Animal: Moral Language-Games, Certainty and the EmotionsJulia Hermann
• 8 Living with Animals, Living as an AnimalAnne Le Goff
• 9 What’s Wrong with a Bite of Dog?Rami Gudovitch
• 10 Second Nature and Animal LifeStefano Di Brisco
• 11 Wittgenstein, Wonder and Attention to AnimalsMikel Burley
• 12 Honour, Dignity and the Realm of MeaningNora Hämäläinen
• 13 W. G. Sebald and the Ethics of NarrativeAlice Crary
• Bibliography
• Index