Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In this original and important book, Corrine Pelluchon argues for nothing less than a new social contract that does justice to the biosphere, to all life, especially other animals, as well as human life, and to future generations. On the basis of a phenomenology of food and nourishment, she shows how freedom depends on the "love of life" and on sharing what nourishes with others. Pelluchon also takes up the practical challenge of reimagining democratic institutions to sustain this ethics of life. Anyone interested in questions of justice and environmental or food ethics should read this book.
Synopsis
This book seeks to replace the philosophy of the subject, underlying contemporary contractualism, with another philosophy. The ethics of vulnerability, which emphasizes the category of passivity, is the first phase in this philosophy of corporality, further supplemented in Nourishment by a philosophy of "living from," which takes the materiality of our existence seriously: hunger, oikos, space and time, place, and enjoyment.
Based on a radical phenomenology of sensations, this book takes inspiration from the French philosophers who were able to suggest an alternative to Heidegger's ontology of concern, such as Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Paul Ricoeur. Going beyond the dualism between nature and culture, subject and object, Pelluchon aims to determine the existential structures that break with Heidegger's ontology of concern and the philosophies of freedom that serve as a foundation for liberal political theory.
Synopsis
In her new book, Corine Pelluchon argues that the dichotomy between nature and culture privileges the latter. She laments that the political system protects the sovereignty of the human and leaves them immune to impending environmental disaster. Using the phenomenological writings of French philosophers like Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Paul Ricoeur, Pelluchon contends that human beings have to recognise humanity's dependence upon the natural world for survival and adopt a new philosophy of existence that advocates for animal welfare and ecological preservation.
In an extension of Heidegger's ontology of concern, Pelluchon declares that this dependence is not negative or a sign of weakness. She argues instead, that we are nourished by the natural world and that the very idea of nourishment contains an element of pleasure. This sustenance comforts humans and gives their lives taste. Pelluchon's new philosophy claims then, that eating has an affective, social and cultural dimension, but that most importantly it is a political act. It solidifies the eternal link between human beings and animals, and warns that the human consumption of animals and other natural resources impacts upon humanity's future.