Companion Species

In its incessant questioning of human exceptionalism, Haraway's 2008 book strikes me as an appropriate place to finish the reading portion of the class and turn, in earnest, to the writing portion. While I'd like to have you read the whole thing--or at least the entire handout distributed in class--focus your energy on pages 3-42 (skipping 27-30), and 77-82 (for a continuation of her discussion of Derrida from chapter 1).

You know the routine.

Animals and Ecophenomenology

While it might seem like Abram is getting a little loose with his terminology when he says mountains have thought, our goal this week is to take seriously his attempt to make sense of the phenomenal world, paying particular attention to his treatment of animals in this world.

As always, post your questions and answers in the comments section.

As a reminder, this week we'll have a visit from Ernestine Hayes to discuss indigenous perspectives, we'll work through Abram's account, and, with any luck, we'll return to Derrida for the last 60 minutes of the evening. You should also begin to formulate paper topics, as the April 22nd deadline is fast approaching.

kevin m.

The Question of the Animal

After reading the selection from Derrida's "The Animal that Therefore I am" distributed in class, please post a question and your attempt at an answer here.

As I mentioned in class, this is an intentionally short selection, so if you have time, you may want to read it more than once. Derrida would have certainly appreciated it if you were to read it again and again.

Until Wednesday.

Enter Ethics

 For "reading week," please read pages 15-91 in JM Coetzee's The Lives of Animals; this includes Coetzee's original "lecture" as well as responses by the literary critic Marjorie Garber and the philosopher Peter Singer.  In addition, please read the Singer and Regan handouts distributed last week.  The latter selections are available via .pdf on the UASonline website if you've misplaced your copies.  The book is readily available via online book sellers or, potentially, via loan from your peers.  Per the usual routine, post your questions and meditations in the comment section below.  

Happy reading,

kevin m

Watching and Working: How to forge an appropriate relationship with the non-human

Per the instructions in class, we'll return to the Berger and Malamud readings in our discussion next week. So if you had a lousy copy, you were too busy, or you just plain flaked out: go back and read those two provocative (and polemic) essays. Fresh copies are available via .pdf on the UAS Online course website or by e-mail from Kevin M, should you need them. We'll likely return to Grizzly Man a bit in discussion, so feel free to continue that discussion here; we'd prefer, though, that you situate it in relation to the arguments made in the readings.

Additionally, moving ahead, we'll spend some time working through two selections from Vicki Hearne's famous 1986 book Adam's Task: Calling Animals by Name. As always, please post your questions, concerns, and musings here.

Why do we want to look? Wildness, Zoos, and Nature Documentary

This week we turn slightly from the philosophical and biological questions we've been addressing for the first 7 weeks toward some more literary questions, but let's not leave the philosophy behind. My hope is that these essays will not only provide fodder for some post-paper 20-minute writes and for some good discussion in class, but that they will inform our viewing of Werner Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man.

Umwelt: toward a subjective understanding of animal behavior?

As our hope is that you are spending most of your time working on your papers this week, we'd understand if your twenty minute writes were a little less substantial this week. That said, we also hope you find Jakob von Uexkull's ideas interesting, so we'd like to hear what you think.

You know the drill.

kevin

UPDATE: several folks have reported problems posting. If you have trouble, please feel free to send your 20-minute write to me (kevin.maier@uas...) and I'll post it for you.

Also, both Kevin K and I have been called to an important meeting at 3:00, so our office hours will be short tomorrow. I can be in earlier if you'd like to meet. Again, drop me an e-mail.

What is is like to see with your ears? Animal Consciosness

You've got the hang of it now: Please post your questions and 20-minute responses to this week's reading under the comments section here. This might also be a good venue to make public some of the anecdotal outside sources that come up in discussion, too.

Per our usual routine, please post your questions and 20-minute responses to this week's reading under the comments section here. Per Kevin K's suggestion in class two weeks ago, this might be a good venue to make public some of the anecdotal outside sources that come up in discussion, too.

READING UPDATE: (In case you didn't already get this e-mail from Kevin K...)

Here is an update on today's reading. In Chapter 2 of Dennett's Intentional Stance, only read to page 35 (the photocopier accidentally included an extra 5 pages -- 37-42). Then read chapter 7 pages 238-260. Then read the "Reflections: Interpreting monkeys..." section. Also read the short Deacon section on vervet monkeys ("In Other Words" appears as a subtitle on the first page). Do not worry about reading Nagel's "What is it like to be a Bat" or the related Dennett reply. We will not get to it tonight. I hope your reading is going well, see you in class tonight.

Kevin

Language

Please post your questions and 20-minute responses to this week's reading (handouts from Davidson, Chomsky, Lakoff and Johnson, and Deacon) under the comments section here. Per Kevin K's suggestion in class, this might be a good venue to make public some of the anecdotal outside sources that come up in discussion, too.

On the Evolution of Human Behavior: Darwin, Wright, Marks, and Sartre

This week we will turn to the questions that arose near the conclusion of last week's discussion; namely, what do we make of the explanations of human behavior premised on analogies to animal behavior?

Please post your questions and your 20-minute attempt at an answer here. It would be helpful if you include your name in your comment. Also, it might be helpful for you to begin working out ideas for your papers here.

Until Wednesday.

Welcome to English 418/Philosohpy 493

We will use this blog to share our weekly twenty-minute writes.

Per the syllabus, for every section meeting, you will prepare one interpretative question and then attempt to answer this question. Your question should demonstrate that you have read thoughtfully and thoroughly; it should also spark discussion about the significance of the course texts. You should expect to write for 20-minutes in an attempt to answer your question.

To earn full credit, these quick writing assignments must be posted here by 4:00 pm each Wednesday. While the blog should provide an opportunity for dialogue (you are encouraged to respond to posts by your peers), you should also try to develop and answer your own questions about the texts.

As browsers are ephemeral things, and as you need to print these short writing assignments for each class, you should do your initial typing in a word processing program, cutting and pasting to this space when you are finished. You will submit a portfolio of all your weekly postings at the end of the semester.

As always, e-mail your instructors if you have any questions or concerns.

UPDATE: you should post your questions and answers in the comment section here.