The World of Wolves: Lessons about the Sacredness of the Surround, Belonging, and the Silent Dialogue of Interdependence and Death, and Speciocide
Environmental Philosophy 5 (2):69-92 (2008)
| Abstract | This essay details wolves’ sense of their surround in terms of how wolves’ perceptual acuities, motor abilities, daily habits, overriding concerns, network of intimate social bonds and relationship to prey gives them a unique sense of space, time, belonging with other wolves, memorial sense, imaginative capacities, dominant emotions (of affection, play, loyalty, hunger, etc.), communicative avenues, partnership with other creatures, and key role in ecological thriving. Wolves are seen to live within a vast sense of aroundness and closeness to aspects of their surround (compared to humans), a highly charged intimacy and cooperation with other wolves, and a caring and non-aggressive attitude that goes beyond the pack, despite their loyalty and defense of territory. The cultural myths and history that absurdly demonize the wolf are explored in their self-righteous attempts to exterminate wolves, which I call “speciocide” and probe for projections of human viciousness. The supposed rapaciousness of wolves is re-examined by expanding Barry Lopez’s sense of the silent dialogue of death with other creatures to be reconsidered as a kind of respect, assertion of vitality, recognition or mortality and cooperation. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
  |
| External links |
|
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesBart van Leeuwen (2007). A Formal Recognition of Social Attachments: Expanding Axel Honneth's Theory of Recognition. Inquiry 50 (2):180 – 205.
Paul D. Barclay (2002). A 'Curious and Grim Testimony to a Persistent Human Blindness': Wolf Bounties in North America, 1630-1752. Ethics, Place and Environment 5 (1):25 – 34.
Paul C. Paquet (2005). Wolf Stories. Environmental Ethics 27 (2):115-134.
Arne Naess (1979). Self-Realization in Mixed Communities of Humans, Bears, Sheep, and Wolves. Inquiry 22 (1-4):231 – 241.
Colette R. Palamar (2007). Wild, Women, and Wolves: An Ecological Feminist Examination of Wolf Introduction. Environmental Ethics 29 (1):63-75.
Glen A. Mazis (2009). Touring as Authentically Embodying Place and a New World at a Glance. Environment, Space, Place 1 (1):169-188.
Marc Bekoff (2001). Empathy: Common Sense, Science Sense, Wolves, and Well-Being. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25 (1):26-27.
Charles Gallagher (1940). Wolves Against the Moon. Thought 15 (3):533-533.
Ben A. Minteer (2003). Wolves and Human Communities. Environmental Ethics 25 (2):207-210.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-01-23Total downloads40 ( #28,801 of 548,984 )Recent downloads (6 months)19 ( #2,967 of 548,984 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
