Animals as Strangers: We Don’t Talk Any More

Abstract

Contemporary societies possess unprecedented knowledge of ecological crises, yet responses remain profoundly inadequate. This paper argues that the problem lies partly in estrangement from the living world, understood as a failure of adequate participation. Drawing on phenomenology, recognition theory and critical phenomenology, I examine how recognition of other animals as perspectives of concern arises through embodied and affective relations, and how reifying conditions inhibit it. Such conditions both sustain exploitative practices that contribute to ecological crises and constrain response to those affected. I conclude by considering how conditions for recognition and response might be cultivated.