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Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela
by William NeumanRichly reported...a thorough and important history." -Tim Padgett, The New York Times A nuanced and deeply-reported account of the collapse of Venezuela, and what it could mean for the rest of the world.Today, Venezuela is a country of perpetual crisis—a country of rolling blackouts, nearly worthless currency, uncertain supply of water and food, and extreme poverty. In the same land where oil—the largest reserve in the world—sits so close to the surface that it bubbles from the ground, where gold and other mineral resources are abundant, and where the government spends billions of dollars on public works projects that go abandoned, the supermarket shelves are bare and the hospitals have no medicine. Twenty percent of the population has fled, creating the largest refugee exodus in the world, rivaling only war-torn Syria’s crisis. Venezuela’s collapse affects all of Latin America, as well as the United States and the international community.Republicans like to point to Venezuela as the perfect example of the emptiness of socialism, but it is a better model for something else: the destructive potential of charismatic populist leadership. The ascent of Hugo Chávez was a precursor to the emergence of strongmen that can now be seen all over the world, and the success of the corrupt economy he presided over only lasted while oil sold for more than $100 a barrel. Chávez’s regime and policies, which have been reinforced under Nicolás Maduro, squandered abundant resources and ultimately bankrupted the country.Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse is a fluid combination of journalism, memoir, and history that chronicles Venezuela’s tragic journey from petro-riches to poverty. Author William Neuman witnessed it all firsthand while living in Caracas and serving as the New York Times Andes Region Bureau Chief. His book paints a clear-eyed, riveting, and highly personal portrait of the crisis unfolding in real time, with all of its tropical surrealism, extremes of wealth and suffering, and gripping drama. It is also a heartfelt reflection of the country’s great beauty and vibrancy—and the energy, passion, and humor of its people, even under the most challenging circumstances.
Think Least of Death: Spinoza on How to Live and How to Die
by Steven NadlerFrom Pulitzer Prize-finalist Steven Nadler, an engaging guide to what Spinoza can teach us about life’s big questionsIn 1656, after being excommunicated from Amsterdam’s Portuguese-Jewish community for “abominable heresies” and “monstrous deeds,” the young Baruch Spinoza abandoned his family’s import business to dedicate his life to philosophy. He quickly became notorious across Europe for his views on God, the Bible, and miracles, as well as for his uncompromising defense of free thought. Yet the radicalism of Spinoza’s views has long obscured that his primary reason for turning to philosophy was to answer one of humanity’s most urgent questions: How can we lead a good life and enjoy happiness in a world without a providential God? In Think Least of Death, Pulitzer Prize–finalist Steven Nadler connects Spinoza’s ideas with his life and times to offer a compelling account of how the philosopher can provide a guide to living one’s best life.In the Ethics, Spinoza presents his vision of the ideal human being, the “free person” who, motivated by reason, lives a life of joy devoted to what is most important—improving oneself and others. Untroubled by passions such as hate, greed, and envy, free people treat others with benevolence, justice, and charity. Focusing on the rewards of goodness, they enjoy the pleasures of this world, but in moderation. “The free person thinks least of all of death,” Spinoza writes, “and his wisdom is a meditation not on death but on life."An unmatched introduction to Spinoza’s moral philosophy, Think Least of Death shows how his ideas still provide valuable insights about how to live today.
Think Like a Terrorist to Combat Terrorism and Radicalization in Prison
by William P. Sturgeon Francesca SpinaThink Like a Terrorist to Combat Terrorism and Radicalization in Prison provides guidelines for hardening facilities, training staff, preparing for radicalized-terrorist inmates’ incarceration, and monitoring these inmates after their release. The book combines practitioner experience with scholarly insights to offer practical suggestions bolstered by research. The authors offer suggestions for housing, programming, security, and staff training with the ultimate goal of keeping correctional facilities, staff, and other inmates, safe from radicalization and spreading terrorist doctrines and terrorist acts, which requires examining and potentially changing prison and correctional officer policies and procedures, hiring and training suitable staff, and ensuring technology is available. Correctional facilities can curtail the recruitment and radicalization of inmates by developing staff training, de-radicalization programs, management methods, techniques, and practices that address the recruitment issues associated with this threat. The need for understanding, and the role line correctional officers and first-line supervisors play in preventing radicalization, is critical in this process. It is also vital to connect with and maintain communication with appropriate security and intelligence agencies as needed. Key Features: • Outlines common terrorist and extremist activities in prison using relevant real-world examples • Instructs on how to detect and recognize such efforts as recruitment and radicalization and how to curtail and prevent such activity • Provides guidance on establishing de-radicalization programs within prison facilities • Presents recommendations on collecting, analyzing, and disseminating intelligence to correctional, law-enforcement, and intelligence agencies on potential terrorist activities and recruitment efforts
Think Risk: A Practical Guide to Actively Managing Risk
by Terje Aven Shital ThekdiRisk is the single most prevalent and enduring factor that influences every individual, organization, and society. People often seek protection from negative risk events, but also seek to take advantage of opportunities arising from positive risk events. We may feel overwhelmed by messages encountered in daily interactions with media and society, contributing to a sense of ambiguity over how to act in response to risk-related information and misinformation. We seek to leverage evidence and reason to find our own balance between both positive and negative outcomes in an uncertain world. This groundbreaking book delivers practical concepts and tools that empower readers to leverage innovations in risk science to improve their abilities to interpret, assess, communicate, and handle risk. It provides a practical non-quantitative approach to understanding the risk and making better decisions involving risk. Think RISK covers several key themes in risk science: a) the main goals and strategies for understanding and managing risk; b) how readers can inform their risk stances by considering their own individual values and mission; c) the difference between risk and safety, and how that difference is critical for managing the risk; d) the role of psychological factors when understanding and managing the risk; e) the role of communication when understanding and managing the risk; and f) the general importance and incentives for effectively understanding and managing the risk. Written for business professionals in all private and public sectors, this book will also be relevant to non-business professionals such as medical practitioners and policymakers and would be an ideal fit for executive education and seminar-style courses in universities, corporate book clubs, and training seminars. Because it’s based on foundational and scientifically accepted ideas and principles, the book should remain relevant for many years.
Think Tanks in Australia: Policy Contributions and Influence (Interest Groups, Advocacy and Democracy Series)
by Trent HaglandThis book provides the most comprehensive study of the Australian think-tank industry to date. Drawing on empirical evidence, it first assesses the structure of the industry, the methods think tanks use to persuade policymakers, and public perceptions of their effectiveness. The book then proceeds to examine three unique policy cases to analyse think tank influence on policymaking. It argues that whilst think tanks play important roles in Australia’s policy process, their impacts vary depending on their approach and objectives. The book also demonstrates that policymakers with contrasting ideological orientations diverge in their assessments of the utility and influence of think tanks. It will appeal to students and scholars of public policy, and practitioners in public administration and governance.
Think a Second Time
by Dennis PragerWhat are the two great lies of the 20th century? Is there a solution to evil? What matters more, blood or love? Can a good man go to a striptease show? Do you think you have the answers? ...Think a second time. Dennis Prager, theologian and philosopher turned talk-show host, is one of the most brilliant and compelling voices in America today. His extraordinarily popular radio show with the signature sign-off, "Think a second time," coupled with his own biweekly newsletter, has firmly established him as a fixture in intellectual communities nationwide. In Think a Second Time, Prager blends a rigorous and scholarly education with utterly original thinking on current events. From the dangers of idealism to the roots of extremism to his thoughts on God and an afterlife, Prager offers challenging answers to up-to-the-minute questions: Should a single woman have a child? Why don't good homes always produce good children? Is America really racist? Why does the Holocaust not negate the existence of God? Now, with an entirely new section on the precedent-setting "Baby Richard" custody case and an exploration of the issue of blood versus love, Prager continues to demonstrate his ability to draw clear moral lines in the sands of our very troubled times.
Think and Act Anew: How Poverty in America Affects Us All and What We Can Do About It
by Larry SnyderA call to action that challenges government, business, and individuals to reexamine poverty in America and to devise new, sustainable solutions. In Think and Act Anew, Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, asserts that poverty in America can be reduced or eliminated only if we take a fresh look at "the poor" and understand that there are as many causes of poverty as there are people. Looking at the lives of the millions of people who rely on Catholic Charities agencies for their basic needs, like housing, food, and healthcare, Snyder shows how the recent economic meltdown has affected Americans from every walk of life. Think and Act Anew also includes portraits of those who have fallen into poverty, such as a Tucson family that lost everything in the mortgage crisis and a life-long construction worker from Little Rock now on food stamps. It also includes examples of individuals, organizations, and local governments who are taking a new look at how we serve the poor, such as a celebrity chef in Washington, D. C. , who uses his talents to feed the hungry and to train them for jobs in the food industry, and innovative programs like the Harlem Children's Zone. Snyder draws on Catholic social teaching-particularly Pope Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate that declares the inherent dignity of all human beings and maintains that charity and justice are the core principles on which economic decisions must be based. Book jacket.
Think! Eat! Act!: A Sea Shepherd Chef's Vegan Recipes (Vegan Cookbooks Ser.)
by Raffaella TolicettiThink!, Eat!, Act! is a cookbook featuring the vegan food prepared on the Sea Shepherd ships' anti-whaling campaigns. Inspired by the Sea Shepherd's goal of protecting the animals that are victims of human cruelty, this book uses delicious vegan food to show readers that every action has a consequence, and that you can live both well and compassionately, even while facing the challenges of being an activist living on a ship.
Thinking About Clinical Legal Education: Philosophical and Theoretical Perspectives (Emerging Legal Education)
by Omar MadhloomThinking About Clinical Legal Education provides a range of philosophical and theoretical frameworks that can serve to enrich the teaching and practice of Clinical Legal Education (CLE). CLE has become an increasingly common feature of the curriculum in law schools across the globe. However, there has been relatively little attention paid to the theoretical and philosophical dimensions of this approach. This edited collection seeks to address this gap by bringing together contributions from the clinical community, to analyse their CLE practice using the framework of a clearly articulated philosophical or theoretical approach. Contributions include insights from a range of jurisdictions including: Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Ethiopia, Israel, Spain, UK and the US. This book will be of interest to CLE academics and clinic supervisors, practitioners, and students.
Thinking About Crime
by James Q. WilsonAs crime rates inexorably rose during the tumultuous years of the 1970s, disputes over how to handle the violence sweeping the nation quickly escalated. James Q. Wilson redefined the public debate by offering a brilliant and provocative new argument--that criminal activity is largely rational and shaped by the rewards and penalties it offers--and forever changed the way Americans think about crime. Now with a new foreword by the prominent scholar and best-selling author Charles Murray, this revised edition of Thinking About Crime introduces a new generation of readers to the theories and ideas that have been so influential in shaping the American justice system.
Thinking About Crime (Revised Edition)
by D. L. Wilson James P. WilsonAs crime rates inexorably rose during the tumultuous years of the 1970s, disputes over how to handle the violence sweeping the nation quickly escalated. James Q. Wilson redefined the public debate by offering a brilliant and provocative new argument-that criminal activity is largely rational and shaped by the rewards and penalties it offers-and forever changed the way Americans think about crime. Now with a new foreword by the prominent scholar and best-selling author Charles Murray, this revised edition of Thinking About Crime introduces a new generation of readers to the theories and ideas that have been so influential in shaping the American justice system.
Thinking About Medicine: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Healthcare
by David MisselbrookThis introduction to the philosophy of medicine surveys the landscape of western philosophy as it pertains to healthcare in an accessible way. Written by a doctor for doctors and other health professionals, framing the 'toolbox' of philosophy within the community of medicine, it encourages examination of the implicit assumptions made in the construction of medical knowledge and practice.Taking the reader step by step through the concepts that underpin modern philosophy, they will be challenged to reflect upon the premises within clinical practice which might benefit from scrutiny and challenge, including the nature of scientific knowledge, the limits of our biomedical model, the cultural and relational context, and the failure to recognise or manage adequately the fact/value distinction in medicine and healthcare.The book is an ideal textbook for students of medicine and medical philosophy and will also be of interest to bioethicists, medical sociologists, clinical commissioners and to practicing clinicians in medicine and the allied health professions seeking to improve their understanding of philosophy and ethics and sharpen their critical thinking skills.
Thinking Animals: Why Animal Studies Now?
by Kari WeilKari Weil provides a critical introduction to the field of animal studies as well as an appreciation of its thrilling acts of destabilization. Examining real and imagined confrontations between human and nonhuman animals, she charts the presumed lines of difference between human beings and other species and the personal, ethical, and political implications of those boundaries. Weil's considerations recast the work of such authors as Kafka, Mann, Woolf, and Coetzee, and such philosophers as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, Deleuze, Agamben, Cixous, and Hearne, while incorporating the aesthetic perspectives of such visual artists as Bill Viola, Frank Noelker, and Sam Taylor-Wood and the "visual thinking" of the autistic animal scientist Temple Grandin. She addresses theories of pet keeping and domestication; the importance of animal agency; the intersection of animal studies, disability studies, and ethics; and the role of gender, shame, love, and grief in shaping our attitudes toward animals. Exposing humanism's conception of the human as a biased illusion, and embracing posthumanism's acceptance of human and animal entanglement, Weil unseats the comfortable assumptions of humanist thought and its species-specific distinctions.
Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues - FSU Custom
by Vincent Ryan RuggieroThinking Critically About Ethical Issues encourages students to reason out for themselves the best answers to moral problems, rather than providing neat answers for students to swallow and regurgitate. Striking a balance between the theoretical and the practical, Ruggiero's text discusses the history of ethics, but its focus is on doing ethics to promote the development of critical thinking skills and to help students acquire confidence in their own judgment. The short chapter length allows students to spend less time reading and more time doing ethical analysis.
Thinking Critically About Law: A Student's Guide
by A. R. CodlingSo you’ve arrived at university, you’ve read the course handbook and you’re ready to learn the law. But is knowing the law enough to get you the very best marks? And what do your lecturers mean when they say you need to develop critical and analytical skills? When is it right to put your own views forward? What are examiners looking for when they give feedback to say that your work is too descriptive? This book explores what it means to think critically and offers practical tips and advice for students to develop the process, skill and ability of thinking critically while studying law. The book investigates the big questions such as: What is law? and What is ‘thinking critically’? How can I use critical thinking to get better grades in assessments? What is the role of critical thinking in the work place? These questions and more are explored in Thinking Critically About Law. Whether you have limited prior experience of critical thinking or are looking to improve your performance in assessments, this book is the ideal tool to help you enhance your capacity to question, challenge, reflect and problematize what you learn about the law throughout your studies and beyond.
Thinking Critically About Law: A Student's Guide
by Amy R CodlingYou arrive at university to embark upon your journey to ‘think like a lawyer’, but is simply knowing the law enough to gain you the best marks? What do you need to do, exactly, to achieve a first-class law degree and promising professional career? For top marks, what do your lecturers mean when they say you need to deepen your ‘critical analysis’ to answer assessment questions? When should you put your own viewpoints forward? When, and how, should you draw upon the work of others? What do your examiners mean when they give you feedback saying that your work is ‘too descriptive’? This book explores what it means to think critically and offers practical tips and advice for students to develop the process, skill and ability of thinking critically while studying law, as well as beyond that in the workplace.The second edition of Thinking Critically About Law utilises art, music, poetry and prose to explore essential questions about studying law and what it means to think critically, offering practical tips and advice for students looking to develop critical thinking skills in relation to law. Updates reflect seismic changes that have taken place both in law teaching and in society more generally. These include the Covid-19 pandemic, social movements sparked by the murders of murders of Sarah Everard and George Floyd, moves to decolonise the law curriculum and the introduction of the SQE qualification. There is also an innovative foreword by Professor Russell Sandberg, a new chapter on the topic of how to think critically during discussions, a new section on Thinking Critically About Law in the Future as well as a renewed emphasis on the health and well-being of students. Other student-focused resources will be available as support materials.Thinking Critically about Law is a crucial companion for those studying law at A-Level and undergraduate level, as well as being relevant to postgraduate students, newly qualified lawyers and tutors of law.
Thinking Difference with Heidegger and Levinas: Truth and Justice (SUNY series in Contemporary French Thought)
by Rozemund UljéeTracing the relationship between truth and justice as articulated by Heidegger and Levinas, Rozemund Uljée presents the relation between the two thinkers as a subtle, profound, and complex rapport, which includes both their proximity and radical difference. This rapport is conceived not as a confrontation, but rather as a transformation, as Levinas's notion of justice does not renounce Heidegger's account of truth and its deployment. Thinking Difference with Heidegger and Levinas shows how the ethical relation transforms the essence and task of philosophy in its entirety, since it shifts the orientation of philosophy and the task of thinking from its concern with truth as ground or foundation to a question of justice. As a result, philosophy is no longer riveted to Being and its truth, but answers to the call for justice and must be conceived of as infinite commencement, where its impossibility to totalize meaning ensures that it remains open to the alterity of transcendence.
Thinking Ecologically, Thinking Responsibly: The Legacies of Lorraine Code
by Andrea Doucet Nancy Arden McHughThinking Ecologically, Thinking Responsibly brings together a transdisciplinary cohort of feminist, critical race, Indigenous, and decolonial scholars who build upon and seek to widen and deepen the legacy and potential of feminist philosopher Lorraine Code's work. Since the publication of her 1987 book Epistemic Responsibility, Code has been at the forefront of linking epistemologies, ontologies, ethics, and epistemic injustice to guide critical frameworks for responsible, situated knowing and practices. This volume both enacts and expands Code's theories, epistemologies, and practices. It points to how concepts such as epistemic responsibility and approaches like ecological thinking are not only theoretical frameworks for knowing the world well; they are also practices and approaches that more and more feminists and critical thinkers are embodying in their work in order to think, write, and live critically and responsibly.
Thinking How to Live
by Allan GibbardPhilosophers have long suspected that thought and discourse about what we ought to do differ in some fundamental way from statements about what is. But the difference has proved elusive, in part because the two kinds of statement look alike. Focusing on judgments that express decisions—judgments about what is to be done, all things considered—Allan Gibbard offers a compelling argument for reconsidering, and reconfiguring, the distinctions between normative and descriptive discourse—between questions of "ought" and "is." Gibbard considers how our actions, and our realities, emerge from the thousands of questions and decisions we form for ourselves. The result is a book that investigates the very nature of the questions we ask ourselves when we ask how we should live, and that clarifies the concept of "ought" by understanding the patterns of normative concepts involved in beliefs and decisions. An original and elegant work of metaethics, this book brings a new clarity and rigor to the discussion of these tangled issues, and will significantly alter the long-standing debate over "objectivity" and "factuality" in ethics.
Thinking Like a Lawyer
by Kenneth J. VandeveldeIn this book, Vandevelde (law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law) attempts to identify, systematically analyze, and simplify into applicable terms the characteristics of legal thought and reasoning. Twelve chapters are organized into three sections: basic legal reasoning, reasoning with policies, and perspectives on legal reasoning. Chapters cover topics like analyzing the law, policy analysis, synthesis, and application, and contemporary perspectives on legal reasoning. The second edition includes a new appendix describing the way legal reasoning is taught in law school and how students can use this text to reinforce their reasoning skills. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Thinking Like a Lawyer
by Kenneth J. VandeveldeWhen Kenneth J. Vandevelde's Thinking Like a Lawyer first published, it became an instant classic, considered by many to be the gold standard introduction to legal reasoning. In this long-awaited second edition, intended for fans of the original and a new generation of lawyers, Vandevelde expands his classic work with useful revisions and updates throughout. Law students, law professors, and lawyers frequently refer to the process of "thinking like a lawyer," but attempts to analyze in any systematic way what is meant by that phrase are rare. Vandevelde defines this elusive phrase and identifies the techniques involved in thinking like a lawyer. Unlike most legal writings, plagued by difficult, virtually incomprehensible language, Vandevelde's work is accessible and clearly written. The second edition features new sections on the legislative process--describing step-by-step how legislation is enacted--and the judicial process--describing step-by-step how a case is litigated in court. Other new sections address the significance of dissenting and concurring opinions as well as the role of cognitive bias in factual determinations and on persuading a jury, on burdens of proof, and on presumptions. A new chapter provides contemporary perspectives on legal reasoning, which includes new material on feminist legal theory, critical race theory, and the economics of law. A new appendix is intended for prospective law students, explaining how readers can use the techniques in the book to help them excel in law school. Vandevelde's Thinking Like a Lawyer will help students, lawyers, and lay readers alike gain important insight into a well-developed and valuable way of thinking. Professors and students will find the book useful in almost any introductory law course at the graduate level and in advanced undergraduate courses on law.
Thinking Like a Lawyer
by Kenneth J. VandeveldeWhen Kenneth J. Vandevelde’s Thinking Like a Lawyer first published, it became an instant classic, considered by many to be the gold standard introduction to legal reasoning. In this long-awaited second edition, intended for fans of the original and a new generation of lawyers, Vandevelde expands his classic work with useful revisions and updates throughout. Law students, law professors, and lawyers frequently refer to the process of “thinking like a lawyer,” but attempts to analyze in any systematic way what is meant by that phrase are rare. Vandevelde defines this elusive phrase and identifies the techniques involved in thinking like a lawyer. Unlike most legal writings, plagued by difficult, virtually incomprehensible language, Vandevelde’s work is accessible and clearly written. The second edition features new sections on the legislative process—describing step-by-step how legislation is enacted—and the judicial process—describing step-by-step how a case is litigated in court. Other new sections address the significance of dissenting and concurring opinions as well as the role of cognitive bias in factual determinations and on persuading a jury, on burdens of proof, and on presumptions. A new chapter provides contemporary perspectives on legal reasoning, which includes new material on feminist legal theory, critical race theory, and the economics of law. A new appendix is intended for prospective law students, explaining how readers can use the techniques in the book to help them excel in law school. Vandevelde’s Thinking Like a Lawyer will help students, lawyers, and lay readers alike gain important insight into a well-developed and valuable way of thinking. Professors and students will find the book useful in almost any introductory law course at the graduate level and in advanced undergraduate courses on law.
Thinking Like a Lawyer
by Kenneth J. VandeveldeWhen Kenneth J. Vandevelde's Thinking Like a Lawyer first published, it became an instant classic, considered by many to be the gold standard introduction to legal reasoning. In this long-awaited second edition, intended for fans of the original and a new generation of lawyers, Vandevelde expands his classic work with useful revisions and updates throughout. Law students, law professors, and lawyers frequently refer to the process of "thinking like a lawyer," but attempts to analyze in any systematic way what is meant by that phrase are rare. Vandevelde defines this elusive phrase and identifies the techniques involved in thinking like a lawyer. Unlike most legal writings, plagued by difficult, virtually incomprehensible language, Vandevelde's work is accessible and clearly written. The second edition features new sections on the legislative process--describing step-by-step how legislation is enacted--and the judicial process--describing step-by-step how a case is litigated in court. Other new sections address the significance of dissenting and concurring opinions as well as the role of cognitive bias in factual determinations and on persuading a jury, on burdens of proof, and on presumptions. A new chapter provides contemporary perspectives on legal reasoning, which includes new material on feminist legal theory, critical race theory, and the economics of law. A new appendix is intended for prospective law students, explaining how readers can use the techniques in the book to help them excel in law school. Vandevelde's Thinking Like a Lawyer will help students, lawyers, and lay readers alike gain important insight into a well-developed and valuable way of thinking. Professors and students will find the book useful in almost any introductory law course at the graduate level and in advanced undergraduate courses on law.
Thinking Plant Animal Human: Encounters with Communities of Difference (Posthumanities #56)
by David WoodCollected essays by a leading philosopher situating the question of the animal in the broader context of a relational ontology There is a revolution under way in our thinking about animals and, indeed, life in general, particularly in the West. The very words man, animal, and life have turned into flimsy conceptual husks—impediments to thinking about the issues in which they are embroiled. David Wood was a founding member of the early 1970s Oxford Group of philosophers promoting animal rights; he also directed Ecology Action (UK). Thinking Plant Animal Human is the first collection of this major philosopher&’s influential essays on &“animals,&” bringing together his many discussions of nonhuman life, including the classic &“Thinking with Cats.&”Exploring our connections with cats, goats, and sand crabs, Thinking Plant Animal Human introduces the idea of &“kinnibalism&” (the eating of mammals is eating our own kin), reflects on the idea of homo sapiens, and explores the place of animals both in art and in children&’s stories. Finally, and with a special focus on trees, the book delves into remarkable contemporary efforts to rescue plants from philosophical neglect and to rethink and reevaluate their status. Repeatedly bubbling to the surface is the remarkable strangeness of other forms of life, a strangeness that extends to the human. Wood shows that the best way of resisting simplistic classification is to attend to our manifold relationships with other living beings. It is not anthropocentric to focus on such relationships; they cast light in complex ways on the living communities of which we are part, and exploring them recoils profoundly on our understanding of ourselves.
Thinking Through Animals: Identity, Difference, Indistinction
by Matthew CalarcoThe rapidly expanding field of critical animal studies now offers a myriad of theoretical and philosophical positions from which to choose. This timely book provides an overview and analysis of the most influential of these trends. Approachable and concise, it is intended for readers sympathetic to the project of changing our ways of thinking about and interacting with animals yet relatively new to the variety of philosophical ideas and figures in the discipline. It uses three rubrics--identity, difference, and indistinction--to differentiate three major paths of thought about animals. The identity approach aims to establish continuity among human beings and animals so as to grant animals equal access to the ethical and political community. The difference framework views the animal world as containing its own richly complex and differentiated modes of existence in order to allow for a more expansive ethical and political worldview. The indistinction approach argues that we should abandon the notion that humans are unique in order to explore new ways of conceiving human-animal relations. Each approach is interrogated for its relative strengths and weaknesses, with specific emphasis placed on the kinds of transformational potential it contains.