Philosophy of Animality: Animals as Strangers

Thematic Dossier “Philosophy of Animality: Animals as Strangers”. Coordinators: Michaela Fišerová, Maria Cristina Clorinda Vendra, Veronika Konrádová

Abstract

The special issue, titled “Philosophy of Animality: Animals as Strangers” and co-edited by Michaela Fišerová, Maria Cristina Clorinda Vendra, and Veronika Konrádová, brings together an international community of thinkers working across ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophy. In their moral and aesthetic reflections, philosophers have often placed animals in an ambiguous space between outsiders and insiders within the “human” world.[1] By critically revisiting how philosophy has addressed the problem of strangeness in human-animal relations, this special issue invites us to question several “xenophobic” attitudes embedded in philosophical concepts and metaphors associated with animals, including the beast, the pest, or the threat. The status of the enemy is particularly evident in representations of so-called invasive species, whose agency challenges human manipulation and control. Focusing on the aesthetic imaginings and ethical justifications that shape how humans cohabit with animals, this collection of articles addresses a central question: why do animals appear in philosophy as strangers?

To this end, this special issue organises different philosophical conceptualisations of animality along a three-field spectrum of openness to symbiotic interspecies cohabitation, ranging from contempt and vigilance through inspiring neighbourhood to respectful companionship.

[1]   Because the theoretical approaches and methodologies adopted across the articles in this special issue vary, terminology has not been standardized. The authors intentionally employ both “animals” and “non-human animals,” according to their respective theoretical frameworks, contexts, and conceptual emphases.