Onto-Ethologies

Brett Buchanan is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Laurentian University.

• AcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsIntroduction 1. Jakob von Uexküll’s Theories of LifeBiography and Historical BackgroundNature’s Conformity with PlanUmweltforschungBiosemioticsConcluding Remarks 2. Marking a Path into the Environments of AnimalsThe Essential Approach to the AnimalHeidegger and the BiologistsThree Paths to the World 3. Disruptive Behavior: Heidegger and the Captivated AnimalThe Worldless StoneThe Poor AnimalThree Bees and a LarkAnimal MorphologyA Shocking WealthA Fine Line in the Rupture of TimeAn Affected Body 4. The Theme of the Animal Melody: Merleau-Ponty and the UmweltThe Structure of BehaviorA Pure Wake, A Quiet ForceA Leaf of BeingInteranimality 5. The-Animal-Stalks-at-Five-O’clock: Deleuze’s Affection for UexküllProblematic OrganismsUexküll’s Ethology of AffectsThe Body without Organs, the Embryonic Egg, and Prebiotic SoupNature’s Refrain Sung across Milieus and TerritoriesThe Animal Stalks Conclusion: Uexküll and UsNotesBibliographyIndex

"Brett Buchanan's Onto-Ethologies, which takes on the crucial task of elucidating the philosophical import of some Uexküllian concepts and tracking their fate in the work of three major later philosophers, is … both welcome and long overdue." — Symposium"…this is a subtle book, a welcome engagement with a renewed focus on certain strands of biophilosophies of the twentieth century, with a particular focus on animals at a time when the so-called 'animal question' is moving through a whole ream of different disciplines." — Radical Philosophy"Most interesting, perhaps, is Buchanan's conscious attempt to bridge continental philosophy with the sciences … This book will likely prove exciting for those interested in the environmental thinking of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze." — Environmental Philosophy