From Ego to Eco – Mapping Shifts from Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism investigates philosophical, political and aesthetic formations of ecocentrism. Representing a variety of disciplines and testing a broad scope of critical approaches, the contributors of this volume argue that anthropocentrism is not - as often claimed - a predominant world view but, rather, a widely contested concept. Within various historical and national contexts, the individual contributors of this book discuss the significance and relevance of ecocentrism and offer new avenues to emerging discourses in the humanities.
Contributors are: Darrell Arnold, Roman Bartosch, Aengus Daly, Gearoid Denvir, Elisabeth Jütten, Karla McManus, Sabine Lenore Müller, Maureen O’ Connor, Lillis Ó Laoire, Helen Phelan, Tina-Karen Pusse, and Christian Schmitt-Kilb.
Sabine Lenore Müller, Ph.D. (NUI Galway 2014), Zhejiang International Studies University, is Associate Professor of English Studies. She has presented papers, published articles and organised conferences focused on ecocriticism and environmental philosophy.
Tina Karen Pusse, Dr.phil. (University of Cologne 2004), National University of Ireland, Galway, is a Lecturer of German Studies. She has published a monograph, articles, edited volumes and periodicals in the areas of gender studies, modern German poetry, autobiography, theory of laughter, and ecocriticism.
AcknowledgmentsList of FiguresIntroductionSabine Lenore Müller and Tina-Karen Pusse
Part 1: Ecocentric Ways of Being: Human-Nature Continuities in Philosophy and Poetry
1 The Language of Nature: Non-differentiation and Concept Formation in Early Modern EmpiricismsAengus Daly 2 Environmental Modernism: Ecocentric Conceptions of the Self and the Emotions in the Works of R.M. Rilke and W.B. YeatsSabine Lenore Müller 3 Hortus Deliciarum/Garden of Delights: A Somatic InterpretationHelen Phelan 4 From Dead Letters to Living Writing: The Aesthetic of Life in NovalisElisabeth Jütten
Part 2: Ecocentric Dwelling: The Global and the Local
5 A Voice from the Land: The Ecopoetics of a Gaeltacht Oral PoetGearóid Denvir 6 Murder in a Meadow: Environmental and Cultural Extinction in Cathal Ó Searcaigh’s “Scrúdú Coinsiasa Roimh Dhul Chun Suain”Lillis Ó Laoire 7 “Poetry’s a Line of Defence”: Ecopoetry and Politics in the 21st CenturyChristian Schmitt-Kilb 8 Greening Democracy: A Defence of Critical Political TheoryDarrell Arnold
Part 3: Ecocentric Vision: Zoomorphism and Animal Perspectives
9 Dark Ecology and Black Comedy in Patrick McGinley’s FoggageMaureen O’Connor 10 Above, Below and Behind the Camera: The Perspective of AnimalsKarla McManus
Part 4: Ecocentrism at the Limits: Animal Encounters
11 Against Exuberant Ecocentrism: Kafka, Coetzee and Transformative MimesisRoman BartoschIndex
All interested in ecocriticism, environmental philosophy and interdisciplinary work in the Green humanities