Of Jews And Animals

"A philosophical concern with animals has played a central role within contemporary philosophical discussions since Peter Singer's work in the 1980s. However, recently within the field of Continental Philosophy the question of the animal has become an important area of academic inquiry. In addition, work on the figure of the Jew has for years been an area of scholarly investigation." "By developing his own conception of the 'figure' Andrew Benjamin has written an innovative and provocative study of the complex relationship between philosophy, the history of painting and their presentation of both Jews and animals. As Benjamin makes clear the 'Other' is never abstract. He underscores the means by which the ethical imperative, arising from the way the history of philosophy and the history of art are constructed, shows us how to respond to an already identified, even if unacknowledged, determinant other."--Jacket.