Philosophy and animal life /

Philosophy and Animal Life compiles five philosophers' reflections (C. Wolfe, C. Diamond, Cavell, J. McDowell, and I. Hacking) on the difficulties of language and reality; skepticism; deflection; and only peripherally, nonhuman animals. Diamond argues, for example, that most philosophical approaches to animal ethics fall short by succumbing to "because" arguments, i.e., "Because animals can ... we shouldn't eat them" or, conversely, "Because animals can't ... we may eat them." Both create distance (through philosophical deflection) from the lived experience of being animal, thereby disassociating humans from relating to other animals. Much of the book focuses on Coetzee's The Lives of Animals, and the main character's controversial comparison of humanity's treatment of animals to the Holocaust. The comparison reflects the character Elizabeth Costello's struggle with beholding the enormity of the pain that people inflict daily in animals' lives, according to Diamond--which itself is commendable considering that many people choose to ignore what they already know. In general, the writers agree that philosophy and humanity have yet to tackle adequately the complex relationship with animals, relying instead on inauthentic assumptions and practices. This book is unlikely to add much to the animal ethics debate, however, as it seldom leaves the realm of rarified philosophy. Summing Up: Optional. Graduate students and above. M. A. Betz independent scholar