Phenomenology: Animals

Philosophers have wondered what it is like to be an animal (the question of animal consciousness) and what we owe animals (animal ethics). But how do we understand these nonhuman animals in the first place? How do they act, and interact with one another? What are their lived environments? How does our concept of the animal shape our concept of the human being? In this course, we will try to answer these questions by exploring the work of thinkers who have made major contributions to how we understand nonhuman animals including Aristotle, Darwin, Heidegger, Uexküll, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Deleuze and Guattari. This course is intended for students who have completed either 2 classes in philosophy or 1 class in philosophy at the 100+ level. Permission to enroll without meeting these requirements may be granted in certain circumstances.