Kelly Oliver
Encyclopedia
Kelly Oliver is an American philosopher whose work contributes to the fields of feminism
, film theory
, media studies
, political philosophy
, and ethics
. She is W. Alton Jones Chair of Philosophy and Professor of Women's Studies at Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, Tennessee.
Oliver received her PhD in Philosophy from Northwestern University
in 1987, and taught in the Philosophy departments at the University of Texas at Austin
and SUNY Stony Brook prior to coming to Vanderbilt in 2005. Her most recent theoretical projects include a book on the use of animal images and metaphors in the history of philosophy and another on images of pregnancy
and the pregnant body in Hollywood films.
and Kristeva, animals play a key theoretical role in defining what it means to be human. While philosophers have historically been interested in maintaining a strong distinction between the animal and the human (often on the basis of reason), Oliver's analyses of these major thinkers suggests that much of philosophical discourse about humanity and ethics depends upon lessons learned from animal behavior. Her point, however, is not that animals and humans are exactly the same, but instead that being human is dependent upon a particular relation to animals, and thus that the great chasm that Western philosophy
posits between the two is untenable.
While Oliver questions the viability of a strict animal/human dichotomy, however, Animal Lessons does not follow the typical trajectory of ethical work on animal rights
. In fact, Oliver is critical of rights-based ethical discourse that would simply expand its scope to include animals, since such a strategy would leave un-questioned assumptions about the nature of humanity on which rights
depend. In many cases, Oliver suggests, such assumptions, which form the foundation of much ethical theory through concepts such as property
or desert (philosophy)
, are themselves inextricably connected with our thinking about animals.
Thus, while Animal Lessons does not approach animal ethics in the traditional mode, Oliver argues that many of our most pressing contemporary ethical questions are connected with claims about animals. Atrocities of torture
and genocide
, for example, are frequently justified by comparing their victims to animals. As Oliver puts it in an interview about the book,
In the end, Oliver calls for an approach to both ethics (both animal and human) that is mindful of our constitutive relationship to animals, which she playfully calls "a 'free range' ethics that breaks out of the self-centered, exclusionary, and domineering notions of individuality, identity
, and sovereignty
." Such an ethics would recognize humans' mutual dependency on animals, the environment
, and other humans, and thus would be less concerned with traditional problems as individual rights
and obligations than with living responsibly within that relationship of dependence. She writes:
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, film theory
Film theory
Film theory is an academic discipline that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large...
, media studies
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
, political philosophy
Political philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
, and ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
. She is W. Alton Jones Chair of Philosophy and Professor of Women's Studies at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
in Nashville, Tennessee.
Oliver received her PhD in Philosophy from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
in 1987, and taught in the Philosophy departments at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
and SUNY Stony Brook prior to coming to Vanderbilt in 2005. Her most recent theoretical projects include a book on the use of animal images and metaphors in the history of philosophy and another on images of pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
and the pregnant body in Hollywood films.
Works
Oliver is the author of dozens of scholarly articles, nine books, and six edited volumes. Her authored books include Animal Lessons: how they teach us to be human, Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex and the Media, The Colonization of Psychic Space: a Psychoanalytic Social Theory of Oppression, Noir Anxiety: Race, Sex and Maternity in Film Noir, Witnessing: Beyond Recognition, Subjectivity without Subjects, Family Values: Subjects between Nature and Culture, Womanizing Nietzsche: Philosophy's Relation to the 'Feminine, and Reading Kristeva.Animal Lessons (2009)
In Animal Lessons, Oliver analyzes the use of animal examples throughout the history of philosophy, arguing that in the work of thinkers as diverse as Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Agamben, Freud, LacanLacan
Lacan is surname of:* Jacques Lacan , French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist** The Seminars of Jacques Lacan** From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-Authoritarianism and the Dislocation of Power, a book on political philosophy by Saul Newman** Lacan at the Scene* Judith Miller, née Lacan...
and Kristeva, animals play a key theoretical role in defining what it means to be human. While philosophers have historically been interested in maintaining a strong distinction between the animal and the human (often on the basis of reason), Oliver's analyses of these major thinkers suggests that much of philosophical discourse about humanity and ethics depends upon lessons learned from animal behavior. Her point, however, is not that animals and humans are exactly the same, but instead that being human is dependent upon a particular relation to animals, and thus that the great chasm that Western philosophy
Western philosophy
Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....
posits between the two is untenable.
While Oliver questions the viability of a strict animal/human dichotomy, however, Animal Lessons does not follow the typical trajectory of ethical work on animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
. In fact, Oliver is critical of rights-based ethical discourse that would simply expand its scope to include animals, since such a strategy would leave un-questioned assumptions about the nature of humanity on which rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
depend. In many cases, Oliver suggests, such assumptions, which form the foundation of much ethical theory through concepts such as property
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
or desert (philosophy)
Desert (philosophy)
Desert in philosophy is the condition of being deserving of something, whether good or bad.-Nomenclature:The word is related to justice, revenge, blame, punishment and many topics central to moral philosophy...
, are themselves inextricably connected with our thinking about animals.
Thus, while Animal Lessons does not approach animal ethics in the traditional mode, Oliver argues that many of our most pressing contemporary ethical questions are connected with claims about animals. Atrocities of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
, for example, are frequently justified by comparing their victims to animals. As Oliver puts it in an interview about the book,
"The man-animal binary is not just any opposition; it is the one used most often to justify violence, not only man’s violence to animals, but also man’s violence to other people deemed like animals. Until we interrogate the history of this opposition with its exclusionary values, considering animals (or particular animals) like us or recognizing that we are also a species of animal does very little to change “how we eat the other,” as Jacques DerridaJacques DerridaJacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
might say."
In the end, Oliver calls for an approach to both ethics (both animal and human) that is mindful of our constitutive relationship to animals, which she playfully calls "a 'free range' ethics that breaks out of the self-centered, exclusionary, and domineering notions of individuality, identity
Identity (social science)
Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
, and sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
." Such an ethics would recognize humans' mutual dependency on animals, the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, and other humans, and thus would be less concerned with traditional problems as individual rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
and obligations than with living responsibly within that relationship of dependence. She writes:
In this era of species extinction and shrinking biodiversity, military occupation and expanded torture, record wealth for the few and poverty for the rest, gated-communities and record incarceration, we need a sustainable ethics more than ever. A sustainable ethics is an ethics of limits, an ethics of conservation. Rather than assert our dominion over the earth and its creatures, this ethics obliges us to acknowledge our dependence upon them. It requires us to attend to our response-ability by virtue of that dependence. It is an ethics of the responsibility to enable responses from others, not as it has been defined—as the exclusive property of man (man responds, animals react)—but rather as it exits all around us. All living creatures are responsive.
All of us belong to the earth, not in the sense of property, but rather as inhabitants of a shared planet.