On Being and Becoming an Animal: Engelhardt’s Two Notions of Animality

PDF
Published: Dec 31, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/conatus.19253
Keywords:
Tristram Engelhardt Jr. morality moral standing self-consciousness animals animality critical interests sanctity of life post-metaphysical culture immanence individualism end of history
Maria Chorianopoulou
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5720-1194
Abstract
The principal objective of this essay is to briefly present and discuss what could be thought of as Engelhardt's two approaches on animality. The first, rather literal use of the term, refers to non-rational animals stricto sensu, while the second and more important one thematizes humanity's ontological self-degradation resulting from the dominant pleasure-oriented culture of our time. As for the first, aiming to moderate his outright acceptance of animal use, I invoke Dworkin's insights on sanctity, which substantiate a plausible alternative stance. As for the second, I attempt to critically reconstruct the way in which, according to Engelhardt, humanity, having rejected every transcendent inquiry, is increasingly embracing its lower nature. In conclusion, I will hint that this return to animality may be impeded by upcoming challenges that already leave a noticeable imprint on a global scale.
Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Davis, Walter S. “Book Review: H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., The Foundations of Christian Bioethics, Swets and Zeitlinger, 2000”. Theoretical Medicine 23 (2002): 97-100.
Dworkin, Ronald. Life’s Dominion: An Argument about Abortion, Euthanasia and Individual Freedom. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. “Animals: Their Right to Be Used”. In Why Animal Experimentation Matters: The Use of Animals in Medical Research, edited by Ellen Frankel Paul and Jeffrey Paul, 175-195. New Brunswick, London: Transaction Publishers, 2001.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. After God: Morality and Bioethics in a Secular Age. New York: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2014.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. “Bioethics and the Process of Embodiment”. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 18, no. 4 (1975): 486-500.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. “Bioethics Critically Reconsidered: Living after Foundations”. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 33 (2012): 97-105.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. “How a Confucian Perspective Reclaims Moral Substance: An Introduction”. Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 9, no. 1 (2010): 3-9.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. “Re-reading Re-reading Engelhardt”. In At the Roots of Christian Bioethics: Critical Essays on the Thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., edited by Anna Smith Iltis and Mark J. Cherry, 285-316. Massachusetts: M & M Scrivener Press, 2010.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. The Foundations of Bioethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Engelhardt, Jr., H. Tristram. The Foundations of Christian Bioethics. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger, 2000.
Guinn, David E. “Religion and Bioethics in the Public Sphere”. In Handbook of Bioethics and Religion, edited by David E. Guinn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tommorow. London: Harvill Secker, 2015.
McCullough, Laurence B. “Foreward: A Professional and Personal Portrait of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr”. In Reading Engelhardt: Essays on the Thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr, edited by Brendan B. Minogue, Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez and James E. Reagan, xi-xix. Dordrecht: Springer, 1997.
Morris, David B. “Animal Pain: The Limits of Meaning”. In Meanings of Pain, edited by Simon Van Rysewyk, 389-401. Cham: Springer, 2016.
O’ Neill, Onora. Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
O’ Neill, Onora. “Environmental Values, Anthropocentrism and Speciesism”. Environmental Values 6, no. 2 (1997): 127-142.
Protopapadakis, Evangelos D. “Animal Rights or Just Human Wrongs?”. In Animal Ethics: Past and Present Perspectives, edited by Evangelos D. Protopapadakis, 279-291. Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2012.
Protopapadakis, Evangelos D. “In Defense of Pharmaceutically Enhancing Human Morality”. Current Therapeutic Research 86 (2017): 9-12.
Savulescu, Julian, and Ingmar Persson, “Moral Enhancement, Freedom, And The God Machine”, The Monist 95, no. 3 (2012): 399-421.
Savulescu, Julian. “Procreative Beneficence: Why We Should Select the Best Children”. Bioethics 15, no. 5-6 (2001): 413-426.
Singer, Peter. “All Animals Are Equal”. In Animal Rights: Past and Present Perspectives, edited by Evangelos D. Protopapadakis, 163-178. Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2012.
Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals. New York: Open Road Media, 2015.
Tollefsen, Christopher. “Missing Persons: Engelhardt and Abortion”. In At the Roots of Christian Bioethics: Critical Essays on the Thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., edited by Ana Smith Iltis and Mark J. Cherry, 165-179. Massachusetts: M & M Scrivener Press, 2010.