Download or read book Unfortunate Destiny written by Reiko Ohnuma and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unfortunate Destiny focuses on the roles played by nonhuman animals within the imaginative thought-world of Indian Buddhism, as reflected in pre-modern South Asian Buddhist literature. These roles are multifaceted, diverse, and often contradictory: In Buddhist doctrine and cosmology, the animal rebirth is a most "unfortunate destiny" (durgati), won through negative karma and characterized by a lack of intelligence, moral agency, and spiritual potential. In stories about the Buddha's previous lives, on the other hand, we find highly anthropomorphized animals who are wise, virtuous, endowed with human speech, and often critical of the moral shortcomings of humankind. In the life-story of the Buddha, certain animal characters serve as "doubles" of the Buddha, illuminating his nature through identification, contrast or parallelism with an animal "other." Relations between human beings and animals likewise range all the way from support, friendship, and near-equality to rampant exploitation, cruelty, and abuse. Perhaps the only commonality among these various strands of thought is a persistent impulse to use animals to clarify the nature of humanity itself--whether through similarity, contrast, or counterpoint. Buddhism is a profoundly human-centered religious tradition, yet it relies upon a dexterous use of the animal other to help clarify the human self. This book seeks to make sense of this process through a wide-ranging-exploration of animal imagery, animal discourse, and specific animal characters in South Asian Buddhist texts.
Download or read book The Fate of the Animals written by Morgan Meis and published by Slant Books. This book was released on 2022-09-15 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1913, Franz Marc, one of the key figures of German Expressionism, created a masterpiece: The Fate of the Animals. With its violent slashes of color and line, the painting seemed to pre-figure both the outbreak of World War I and, more eerily, Marc's own death in an artillery barrage at the Battle of Verdun three years later. With his signature blend of wide-ranging erudition and lively, accessible prose, Morgan Meis explores Marc's painting in depth, guided in part by a series of letters Marc wrote to his wife Maria while he was a soldier in the war. In those letters, Marc explores the nature of art, the fate of European civilization, and the inner spiritual nature of all life. Along the way, Meis brings in other artists such as D.H. Lawrence, Edgar Degas, and Paul Klee to flesh out his argument. The Fate of the Animals also explores the darker undercurrents of German apocalyptic thinking in Marc's time, especially Norse mythology and the ancient Vedic texts as they influenced Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. The Fate of the Animals is the second volume of Meis's Three Paintings Trilogy, the first volume of which, The Drunken Silenus, examined a painting by Rubens. The third volume (forthcoming) will consider a painting by Joan Mitchell.
Download or read book On the Destiny of Species written by Matthew Watkinson and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2009 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you really accepted natural selection?For those who believe in conservation, On the Destiny of Species will not make comfortable reading. In fact, it will challenge you throughout because Life just isn’t as fragile as we have been led to believe.Yes, giant pandas are fragile, and yes, polar bears are fragile (relatively), and yes, even humans may be fragile, but Life isn’t about species; it’s about Life. It’s about pragmatic survival in a dynamic world.Conservation is a hot topic these days – Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the WWF have 10 million members between them – but after 30 years of research, the author has no doubt that Nature’s culling policy is ruthless for a reason, and that human emotion is at best misplaced and often specifically detrimental (as the domestic species clearly demonstrate).Published on the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species.
Download or read book Elephant Destiny written by Martin Meredith and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For thousands of years, the majestic elephant has roamed the African continent, as beloved by man as it has been preyed upon. But centuries of exploitation and ivory hunting have taken their toll: now, as wars and poachers continue to ravage its habitat, as disease and political strife deflect attention from its plight, the African elephant faces imminent extinction. What will become of these magnificent beasts? As the elephant's future looms ever darker, Martin Meredith's concise and richly illustrated biography traces the elephant's history from the first ivory expeditions of the Egyptian pharaohs 2500 years ago to today, exploring along the way the indelible imprint the African elephant has made in art, literature, culture, and society. He shares recent extraordinary discoveries about the elephant's sophisticated family and community structure and reveals the remarkable ways in which elephants show compassion and loyalty to each other. Elegant, illuminating, and urgent, Elephant Destiny offers a beautiful and important tribute to one of earth's most magisterial creatures at the very moment it threatens to vanish from being.
Download or read book Poetic Animals and Animal Souls written by R. Malamud and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a new paradigm for reading and appreciating animals in literature and addresses how human culture views animals in poetry. Part one sets up a theoretical overview and posits some aesthetic and ethical ideals for transposing animals into art, while part two presents a more focused practical application of these ideals in one strain of animal poetry (as seen in the works of Marianne Moore, José Emilio Pacheco, Gary Snyder, Pattiann Rogers and others). The poetry analyzed in the book is respectfully and non-invasively insightful into animals; it is tinged with a distancing, and a kind of spiritual awe, regarding their existence.
Download or read book Founding a Science of the Spirit written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previously published as At the Gates of Spiritual Science, these lectures offer a fine introduction to the whole of Rudolf Steiner's teaching, as well as including valuable material which is not to be found elsewhere. With great clarity and precision, Steiner speaks of the fundamental nature of the human being in relation to the cosmos, the evolution of the Earth, the journey of the soul after death, reincarnation and karma, good and evil, the modern path of meditative training, as well as giving answers to individual questions.Throughout, Steiner's emphasis is on a scientific exposition of spiritual phenomena. As he says in the final lecture: "the highest knowledge of mundane things is thoroughly compatible with the highest knowledge of spiritual truths."
Download or read book Ask the Animals written by Arthur W. Walker-Jones and published by SBL Press. This book was released on 2024-06-21 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ask the animals, and they will tell you. Birds, beasts, and creeping things swarm throughout the Bible’s pages. Despite their prevalence, most biblical scholars have viewed them merely as metaphors, passive objects, or background embellishment to the human experience. This collection seeks to move beyond this traditional view of biblical animals by engaging the growing interdisciplinary field of animal studies. Contributors Peter Joshua Atkins, Jared Beverly, William P. Brown, Margaret Cohen, Jacob R. Evers, Michael J. Gilmour, William “Chip” Gruen, Dong Hyeon Jeong, Brian Fiu Kolia, Anne Létourneau, Robert R. MacKay, Suzanna R. Millar, Timothy J. Sandoval, Robert Paul Seesengood, Ken Stone, Brian James Tipton, Arthur W. Walker-Jones, and Jaime L. Waters showcase the breadth and depth of inquiry that animal studies can foster in biblical studies as well as what animal studies can gain from a more rigorous engagement with biblical texts. Together the essays offer an animal hermeneutic that supports the flourishing of all creatures.
Download or read book Our Symphony with Animals written by Aysha Akhtar and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leader in the fields of animal ethics and neurology, Dr. Aysha Akhtar examines the rich human-animal connection and how interspecies empathy enriches our well-being. Deftly combining medicine, social history and personal experience, Our Symphony with Animals is the first book by a physician to show that humans and animals have a shared destiny—our well-being is deeply entwined. Dr. Akhtar reveals how empathy for animals is the next step in our species’ moral evolution and a vital component of human health. When we include animals in our circle of empathy, we not only liberate animals, we also liberate ourselves. Drawing on the accounts of a varied cast of characters—a former mobster, a pediatrician, an industrial chicken farmer, a serial killer, and a deer hunter—to reveal what happens when we both break and forge bonds with animals. Interwoven is Dr. Akhtar’s own story, an immigrant who was bullied in school and abused by her uncle. Feeling abandoned by humanity, it was only when she met Sylvester, a dog who had also been abused, that she find the strength to sound the alarm for them both. Humans are neurologically designed to empathize with animals. Violence against animals goes against our nature. In equal measure, the love we give to animals biologically reverberates back to us. Our Symphony with Animals is the definitive account for why our relationships with animals matter.
Download or read book All God s Animals written by Christopher Steck and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is the first of its kind to draw together in conversation the views of the early Church, contemporary biblical and theological scholarship, and post-conciliar teachings. Steck develops a comprehensive, Catholic theology of animals based on an in-depth exploration of Catholicism's fundamental doctrines—trinitarian theology, Christology, pneumatology, eschatology, and soteriology. All God's Animals makes two central claims. First, we can hope that God will include animals of the present age in the kingdom inaugurated by Christ. Second, because of this inclusion, our responses to animals should be guided by the values of the kingdom. As Christians await the final liberation of all creation, they are to be witnesses to God’s kingdom by embodying its ideals in their relations with animal life. Because the kingdom's fullness is yet to come and because our world remains marked by the wounds of sin, however, Christian treatment of animals will at times require acts that are at odds with the kingdom’s ideals (for example, those causing suffering and death). Steck examines each of these ideas and explores all of their complexities.
Download or read book Man and Animal written by Hermann Poppelbaum and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2014-08-29 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘To be man is to know the animals and all the creatures of the earth; it is to recognize our responsibility towards these beings, once of the same order as ourselves, but now obliged to live beside us in an incompleteness that never ceases its appeal to human beings – warning us to make ourselves worthy of the trust invested in us.’ – Hermann Poppelbaum What is the historical and evolutionary relationship between man and animal? In this classic text, based on the anthroposophical science founded by Rudolf Steiner, Poppelbaum, trained in Biology, compares the outer forms of man and animal, revealing their essential differences and contrasting inner experiences. Drawing a bold and clear delineation between the fundamental nature of man and that of the animal, Poppelbaum argues that human beings are not the accidental outcome of animal development, but the hidden source of evolution itself. He goes on to discuss the true relationship of both man and animal to their environment, and develops a critique of contemporary theories regarding human and animal evolution. He argues that, rather than a simple reflex of the nervous system, the human spirit is a microcosmic reflection of the spiritual macrocosm, and our individual consciousness is a crucial seed for future evolution.
Download or read book Animal Lessons written by Kelly Oliver and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophy reads humanity against animality, arguing that "man" is man because he is separate from beast. Deftly challenging this position, Kelly Oliver proves that, in fact, it is the animal that teaches us to be human. Through their sex, their habits, and our perception of their purpose, animals show us how not to be them. This kinship plays out in a number of ways. We sacrifice animals to establish human kinship, but without the animal, the bonds of "brotherhood" fall apart. Either kinship with animals is possible or kinship with humans is impossible. Philosophy holds that humans and animals are distinct, but in defending this position, the discipline depends on a discourse that relies on the animal for its very definition of the human. Through these and other examples, Oliver does more than just establish an animal ethics. She transforms ethics by showing how its very origin is dependent upon the animal. Examining for the first time the treatment of the animal in the work of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Agamben, Freud, Lacan, and Kristeva, among others, Animal Lessons argues that the animal bites back, thereby reopening the question of the animal for philosophy.
Download or read book Destiny s Magical Dream written by J.T. Carruthers and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2012-08-14 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the world and have many adventures? To journey through magical doors, meet new friends, experience new languages, cultures, traditions, and foods. Well, now you can, as you join Destiny in this delightful story. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Destiny’s Magical Dreams is the fi rst of many journeys to come. So be sure to look for future stories as Destiny travels the world.
Download or read book The Animal s Defender and Zoophilist written by and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Animal Welfare in World Religion written by Joyce D'Silva and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-01 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique and readable book examines the relationship between religion and animal welfare, taking a detailed dive into the teachings and practices of the major world religions. While there are many books expounding the beliefs of the major religions and many about the rights and welfare of animals, there are few linking the two. With each chapter focusing on one of the five major religions – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism – the book explores the beliefs and practices which drive our relationship with and treatment of animals. The book draws on the scriptures of the major faiths and includes the voices of leading historical religious figures and contemporary faith leaders. In doing so, it compares the teachings of old with contemporary practices and showcases the impact of the major religions on both the protection and exploitation of animals, from running animal sanctuaries, to participating in or condoning cruel sports and factory farming. Importantly, the book also includes a chapter looking beyond the major world religions, where it examines a wider range of beliefs and practices, including Indigenous peoples from the USA and Australia, Jainism, Sikhism and Rastafarianism, to provide fascinating insights into another range of beliefs and views on the human-animal relationship. Overall, this book challenges and encourages religious leaders and followers to re-examine their teachings and to prioritise the well-being of animals. This book is essential reading for those interested in the role of religion in animal welfare, human-animal studies, and animal welfare and ethics more broadly.
Download or read book Animal Studies written by Paul Waldau and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-28 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The field requires both learning and unlearning to develop forms of critical thinking that are scientifically informed and ethically sensitive.
Download or read book Electric Animal written by Akira Mizuta Lippit and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Differentiation from animals helped to establish the notion of a human being, but the disappearance of animals now threatens that identity. This is the argument underlying Electric Animal, a probing exploration of the figure of the animal in modern culture. Akira Mizuta Lippit shows us the animal as a crucial figure in the definition of modernity -- essential to developments in the natural sciences and technology, radical transformations in modern philosophy and literature, and the advent of psychoanalysis and the cinema. Moving beyond the dialectical framework that has traditionally bound animal and human being, Electric Animal raises a series of questions regarding the idea of animality in Western thought. Can animals communicate? Do they have consciousness? Are they aware of death? By tracing questions such as these through a wide range of texts by writers ranging from Friedrich Nietzsche to Jacques Derrida, Sigmund Freud to Vicki Heame, Lewis Carroll to Franz Kafka, and Sergei Eisenstein to Gilles Deleuze, Lippit arrives at a remarkable thesis, revealing an extraordinary logical consensus in Western thought: animals do not have language and hence cannot die. The animal has, accordingly, haunted thought as a form of spectral and undead being. Lippit demonstrates how, in the late nineteenth century; this phantasmic concept of animal being reached the proportions of an epistemological crisis, engendering the disciplines and media of psychoanalysis, modern literature, and cinema, among others. Against the prohibitive logic of Western philosophy, these fields opened a space for rethinking animality. Technology, usually thought of in opposition to nature, came to serve as therepository for an unmournable animality -- a kind of vast wildlife museum. A highly original work that charts new territory in current debates over language and mortality, subjectivity and technology, Electric Animal brings to light fundamental questions about the status of representation -- of the animal and of ourselves -- in the age of biomechanical reproduction.
Download or read book An Introduction to Animals and Visual Culture written by R. Malamud and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-05-30 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating exploration of the way in which animals are 'framed' - contextualized, decontextualized - in contemporary visual culture. Written in a highly engaging style, this book challenges the field, dealing with some highly controversial aspects of animal exploitation and boldly examines material that is seldom discussed within animal studies.
