Animal Turn and the Structure of Philosophical Thought

Larys LUBOWICKI

Zakład Filozofii i Psychologii, Wydział Nauk o Zdrowiu, Uniwersytet Medyczny w Białymstoku, ul. Szpitalna 37, 15-295 Białystok, Poland , Poland

Jacek BRECZKO

Zakład Filozofii i Psychologii, Wydział Nauk o Zdrowiu, Uniwersytet Medyczny w Białymstoku, ul. Szpitalna 37, 15-295 Białystok, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The article scrutinizes cultural sources of the animal turn in philosophy and explores the relationship between the phenomenon in question and the structure of philosophy. The authors indicate four main factors that affected an increase in the scholarly interest in animals, i.e., secularization (including the popularity of Nietzscheanism and postmodernism), consequences of the theory of evolution, the ecological crisis, and the impact of identity politics. The authors propose a structural model that allows to determine the ‘distance’ between a given philosophical doctrine and pro-animal thought (a philosopher’s hypothetical attitude to animals). To estimate such a distance, ontological and epistemological characteristics of a doctrine are analyzed. The cases of Pythagoras and Plato are discussed in detail, as the proposed model reveals relevant ontological differences between their views; the discussion helps explain differences between the ideas suggested by the model and theories frequently advanced in the context of animal studies.

Keywords:

structure of philosophy, animal studies, animal turn, metaphysics, epistemology, animals and philosophy, speciesism