Heidegger and Animals : New Insights from Ethology and Evolutionary Biology

In this open access volume, Jerome C. Regier provides a comprehensive exploration of Heidegger’s animal philosophy throughout the Gesamtausgabe, challenging its key ontological claims, whilst also updating the discussion to incorporate new insights from evolutionary biology and ethology.

Heidegger and Animals offers a new way of thinking about the relationship between humans and our fellow animals. It does this by exploring Heidegger’s philosophical writings and oft-cited claim that there is an ontological abyss separating humans and human Dasein (whose way of being Heidegger calls "existence") and animals (whose way of being he calls "captivation"). Scrutinizing Heidegger’s emphasis on human Dasein’s distinctive way of being and his approach to ethology, experimental biologist Regier challenges Heidegger’s ontological interpretation of animal behavior. In particular he does this by drawing on and reinterpreting numerous studies of bees and other arthropods, octopuses and other cephalopods, fish, birds, and mammals.

Questioning Heidegger whilst continuing to work within his conceptual framework, this book aims to expand Heidegger’s understanding of existence (as Dasein) to include our fellow animals without denying an ontological abyss between existence and captivation. Through a more informed and sensitive understanding of biology, Regier reveals how humans and many animals are, after all, in both existence (as Dasein) and captivation.

This innovative study will be of great value to debates around animal rights and environmental protection, in defending the dignity of animals within a tradition of continental philosophy.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license on bloomsburycollections.com.