Thinking and devouring: About an ancient motif recently thematised in philosophy

pages: 251-274

Abstract

The inspiration or provocation for this paper came from the animal welfare theorists and environmental philosophers who have questioned the justification of our - real and symbolic - practice of eating meat, and from there challenged our meat-eating and generally devouring culture. The author is attempting to examine this motif - a motif of eating, swallowing devouring - its manifestation, display, findings or far-reaching thematisation that have been taking place more or less in passing in the texts of some pivotal thinkers of modern and contemporary philosophical tradition (Rousseau, Hegel, Nietzsche, Freud, Adorno, Lyotard, Derrida). It is suggested that grasping the procedure of devouring, perceived from the perspective of its imperceptible and in time almost ceremonial outgrowing into self-understandable gesture of a theory - and not only theory - is at least instructive and inspirational actual moment of consciousness for the entire (Western) thought, in other words, an aspect of its critical reconstruction and deconstruction. Keywords: thinking, devouring, meat, meat eating, animals, beast, subject, the other, morality, anthropocentrism, corps, recognition