Merleau-Ponty and the Human–Animal Relation

Chandler D. Rogers is Lecturer in Philosophy at Gonzaga University. His interests are in environmental philosophy, 19th-century philosophy, phenomenology and the philosophy of religion. His work has been published in journals such as International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy and Theology, Environmental Philosophy, Journal for Critical Animal Studies, and Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Human Place in the CosmosPart I1. Eros After Nature: Solicitation Between ‘Speech’ and DiscourseI. Two Problems and Two CritiquesII. The Solicitation-and-Response Relation2. Animal Before Thought: Merleau-Ponty and the Maturation of DesireI. Archeology and TeleologyII. The Maturation of Desire3. Estranged Kinship: Empathy and Animal Desire in Merleau-PontyI. The Subsistence of EmpathyII. The Sublimation of Animal DesirePart II4. The Sensible Origins of Reflection: Levinasian Criticisms of Merleau-Ponty’s Late OntologyI. An Irreducible RemainderII. The Spark of Reflection5. The Ontological Origins of Sensibility: Phenomenological Ontology in an Aesthetic RegisterI. Cézanne’s Inhuman GazeII. Brute, or Anonymous Being6. Seeds of Ecological Selfhood: Phenomenology of the Animal in an Ethical RegisterI. The Paradox of Elemental AlterityII. The Transformation of Estranged KinshipPart III7. Animauxdenial: On Nature and the Animal as (In)DifferenceI. Tragic, or Impossible DesireII. The Wild Animal(s) Within8. The Barbarian Principle: Befriending the Philosopher’s ShadowI. Phenomenology and PsychoanalysisII. Disentangling Merleau-Ponty’s Reading of Schelling9. Dynamic Integration: Becoming Animal, Becoming HumanI. Problematizing IndistinctionII. Subordinating Greed to LoveBibliographyIndex

Merleau-Ponty and the Human-Animal Relation is a work of remarkable synthesis and impressive originality. Rogers helps us to understand our humanity in ways that are both more fully animal and more fully human, developing ideas like solicitation-and-response, animauxdenial, and others that deserve wide readership and discussion. A brilliant, challenging, and inspiring work.