“Post-Anthropocentrism” in Animal Philosophy and Ethics

The Disparity of the Prefix “Post”

Authors

  • Andreas Aigner Messerli Research Institute
  • Karl Pieper
  • Herwig Grimm Messerli Research Institute

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52537/humanimalia.9666

Abstract

The field of post-anthropocentrism in current animal philosophy and related disciplines is structured by heterogeneous concepts of anthropocentrism on the one hand and different usages of the prefix ‘post’ on the other. This paper expounds different perspectives on anthropocentrism, while additionally focusing on the possibilities of its overcoming: on how anthropocentrism is problematized rather than on what is problematized. Two different positions are used as examples: humanist post-anthropocentrism, as advocated by Gary Steiner, and post-humanism, as advocated by Cary Wolfe in reference to Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction. In conclusion, the notion of ‘excess’ is analysed to illustrate the structural differences regarding a crucial term for both positions.

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Author Biographies

Andreas Aigner, Messerli Research Institute

Andreas Aigner is a scholar at the Messerli Research Institute (MRI) of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna, and the University of Vienna. He is currently working on his dissertation project (supported by the Austrian Science Fund, FWF). His research interests include: Lacanian psychoanalysis, animal ethics, and continental philosophy.

Karl Pieper

Karl Pieper is a philosophy graduate of the University of Vienna. His Master’s thesis focused on the “Discourse of the New” and he is currently preparing his dissertation project. Research interests include: postmodernism, animal ethics, and continental philosophy.

Herwig Grimm, Messerli Research Institute

Herwig Grimm is Professor of Ethics and Human-Animal Studies at the Messerli Research Institute (MRI) at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the Medical University of Vienna, and the University of Vienna. He heads the Unit of Ethics and Human-Animal Studies at the Messerli Research Institute. His research interests include: animal ethics, pragmatism in applied ethics, and methods of problem-oriented moral philosophy.

Sil Kloppenburg, “Post-Anthropocentrism”, oil on cotton, 2023

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Published

2016-03-20

How to Cite

Aigner, Andreas, Karl Pieper, and Herwig Grimm. 2016. ““Post-Anthropocentrism” in Animal Philosophy and Ethics: The Disparity of the Prefix ‘Post’”. Humanimalia 7 (2):56-83. https://doi.org/10.52537/humanimalia.9666.

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