GERST 4260 - The Animal

(crosslisted) COML 4240, ENGL 4260, GOVT 4279
(CA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits. Student option grading.

P. Gilgen.

In recent years literary representations and philosophical discussions of the status of the animal vis-à-vis the human have abounded. In this course, we will track the literary phenomenology of animality. In addition we will read philosophical texts that deal with the questions of animal rights and of the metaphysical implications of the “animal.” Readings may include, among others, Agamben, Aristotle, Berger, the Bible, Calvino, Coetzee, Darwin, Derrida, Descartes, Donhauser, Gorey, Haraway, Hegel, Heidegger, Herzog, Kafka, Kant, La Mettrie, de Mandeville, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Ozeki, Rilke, Schopenhauer, Singer, Sorabji, Sterchi, Stevens, de Waal, Wittgenstein, Wolfe. A reading knowledge of German and French would be helpful.