The Philosophical Ethology of Vinciane Despret

Vinciane Despret is a Belgian philosopher whose work proposes new questions and approaches to human-animal relations. Of central importance to her thought is an intellectual and cultural proposal to allow animals to show their agency and allow them to be interesting. With genuine curiosity, Despret looks at how humans and animals transform one another through daily encounters, and she explores these metamorphoses through an engagement with the history of philosophy, literature, science, field research, and art. In a playful though serious tone, Despret claims that animals are always more interesting than we give them credit for, and that the achievements of animals are never far from our own. This book was originally published as a special issue of Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities.

General Introduction: Philosophical Ethology Brett Buchanan, Jeffrey Bussolini and Matthew Chrulew Introduction: Vinciane Despret Brett Buchanan, Matthew Chrulew and Jeffrey Bussolini Preface: A Curious Practice Donna Haraway 1. The Metamorphoses of Vinciane Despret Brett Buchanan 2. Models and Methods: Sketch of a Field Study Vinciane Despret, trans. Matthew Chrulew 3. The Enigma of the Raven Vinciane Despret, trans. Jeffrey Bussolini 4. Who Made Clever Hans Stupid? Vinciane Despret, trans. Matthew Chrulew 5. The Pragmatics of Expertise Vinciane Despret and Jocelyne Porcher, trans. Stephen Muecke 6. Beasts and Humans Vinciane Despret, trans. Brett Buchanan 7. The Otter and the Fish Farmer Vinciane Despret, trans. Matthew Chrulew 8. Thinking Like a Rat Vinciane Despret, trans. Jeffrey Bussolini 9. Animal Abecedary: "O for OEuvres" and "Q for Queer" Vinciane Despret, trans. Brett Buchanan 10. We Are Not So Stupid … Animals Neither Vinciane Despret, trans. Hollis Taylor 11. On Asking the Right Questions: An Interview with Vinciane Despret Brett Buchanan, Matthew Chrulew and Jeffrey Bussolini

Brett Buchanan is Director of the School of the Environment, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada. Matthew Chrulew is ARC DECRA Research Fellow in the Centre for Culture and Technology, Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Jeffrey Bussolini is Associate Professor of Sociology-Anthropology at City University of New York, USA.