A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans - Jakob von Uexküll

A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans

with A Theory of Meaning
Buch | Softcover
248 Seiten
2010
University of Minnesota Press (Verlag)
978-0-8166-5900-5 (ISBN)
28,80 inkl. MwSt
The influential work of speculative biology-and a key document in posthumanist studies-now available in a new, accurate English translation.
Is the tick a machine or a machine operator? Is it a mere object or a subject? With these questions, the pioneering biophilosopher Jakob von Uexküll embarks on a remarkable exploration of the unique social and physical environments that individual animal species, as well as individuals within species, build and inhabit. This concept of the umwelt has become enormously important within posthumanist philosophy, influencing such figures as Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Deleuze and Guattari, and, most recently, Giorgio Agamben, who has called Uexküll "a high point of modern antihumanism."
A key document in the genealogy of posthumanist thought, A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans advances Uexküll's revolutionary belief that nonhuman perceptions must be accounted for in any biology worth its name; it also contains his arguments against natural selection as an adequate explanation for the present orientation of a species' morphology and behavior. A Theory of Meaning extends his thinking on the umwelt, while also identifying an overarching and perceptible unity in nature. Those coming to Uexküll's work for the first time will find that his concept of the umwelt holds out new possibilities for the terms of animality, life, and the whole framework of biopolitics itself.

Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) was born in Estonia and educated at the University of Heidelberg and the Zoological Center in Naples. He published widely and, in 1926, founded the Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Hamburg. Joseph D. O'Neil is assistant professor of German studies at the University of Kentucky. A writer and sleight-of-hand magician, Dorion Sagan has written extensively on evolution, cybersex, and the biology of gender. Geoffrey Winthrop Young is associate professor of Central, Eastern, and Northern European studies at the University of British Columbia.

Contents

Introduction: Umwelt after Uexküll

Dorion Sagan

Translator's Introduction

A Foray into the Worlds of Animals and Humans

Foreword

Introduction

Environment Spaces

The Farthest Plane

Perception Time

Simple Environments

Form and Movement as Perception Marks

Goal and Plan

Perception Image and Effect Image

The Familiar Path

Home and Territory

The Companion

Search Image and Search Tone

Magical Environments

The Same Subject as Object in Different Environments

Conclusion

A Theory of Meaning

Carriers of Meaning

Environment and Dwelling-shell

Utilization of Meaning

The Interpretation of the Spider's Web

Form Development Rule and Meaning Rule

The Meaning Rule as the Bridging of Two Elementary Rules

The Composition Theory of Nature

The Sufferance of Meaning

The Technique of Nature

Counterpoint as a Motif/Motive of Form Development

Progress

Summary and Conclusion

Afterword. Bubbles and Webs: A Backdoor Stroll through the Readings of Uexküll

Geoffrey Winthrop-Young

Notes

Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag 1.11.2010
Reihe/Serie Posthumanities
Übersetzer Joseph D. O’Neil
Verlagsort Minnesota
Sprache englisch
Maße 140 x 216 mm
Themenwelt Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Philosophie
Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie des Mittelalters
Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie der Neuzeit
ISBN-10 0-8166-5900-1 / 0816659001
ISBN-13 978-0-8166-5900-5 / 9780816659005
Zustand Neuware
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