(S)ANIMISM, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY, AND TRANSSPECIES BECOMING
(S)ANIMISM, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY, AND TRANSSPECIES BECOMING
Author(s): Chantal Noa ForbesSubject(s): Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Social Philosophy
Published by: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk i Fundacja Filozofia na Rzecz Dialogu
Keywords: Ontological flux; posthumanism; relational ontology; becoming-animal; transspecies kinship
Summary/Abstract: In this article, I suggest that the challenge of the Anthropocene is an ontological challenge arising from modern humans’ abstraction from our environment, rooted in the substance ontology of Euro-Cartesian metaphysics. By comparative philosophical analysis of the cosmological foundations of the San Bushmen’s ontology in southern Africa, this article suggests that being rooted in hunter-gatherer metaphysics is a key component of our species’ ability to symbiotically adapt by fostering the relational practice of ontological ambiguity, fluidity, and mutability that facilitates a process of transspecies becoming. Through both animistic and European philosophical perspectives, I suggest that the posthumanist practice of becoming by process of ontological flux reinforces an Earth-centered epistemology that can assist postmodern humans in transitioning from an ontological impasse that has resulted in environmental fragmentation to a relational ontology that re-establishes an ecological web of transspecies kinship.
Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
- Issue Year: 2023
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 61-88
- Page Count: 28
- Language: English