Coetzee and the Year to Come

Hey All,

I've talked to a few people that have been to past gatherings and that’d like to come to the next one, about when would be a good time. And so far Saturday afternoon is looking good. Because the ANUSA Student space is closed over the summer holidays, we’ll have to gather elsewhere. I would suggest meeting outdoors somewhere, but we have threats of rain for Saturday, so I thought a good place to meet would be the Wig and Pen. It shouldn’t be too busy in the afternoon.

So, 3pm at the Wig and Pen, unless anyone has any objections to that plan (Saturday's pretty close so I thought I should be pretty unequivocal... sorry, it's crap and we'll try and avoid t in the future). Probably at one the big tables at the back.

So as you probably know already, the reading we’ve set is J.M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals (link over on the right). However, I think that these summer holiday meetings would be a great opportunity to have some thorough and explicit discussions of what this group can/should: do, be and become over the coming year. I think discussing a bit of both (Coeztee and the year to come [GOOD TITLE, I’ll use it]) would be great… I feel that there’s something about the scope, and um… something else I can’t nail now, of the Coetzee lecture that lends it to a broad and sweeping discussion of Animals; the many different ways we’ve thought about them in the past (and some hinted at, and seemingly contradictory, suggestions about how we should think about them).

That’s that!
‘Til Saturday: Stay Gold

Dee

Hullo All!

I only realized last night that the next gathering was scheduled on the blog for tomorrow the 12th of December. I’m afraid that I haven’t done really any of the work of preparation for having a meeting tomorrow (booking a space, letting people know on through email list, giving more information about what he had in mind for the gathering etc.)

So, I’ m gonna suggest that we postpone for a little week and try for the weekend. But I’ll throw out to you as to which day and time we meet, so that everyone that wants to come can. So, I recon either Saturday or Sunday, afternoon or evening? When’s good for you (or when in is NOT good)?

But, but, but if anyone is still keen to get together with some people tomorrow evening to discuss the Coeztee article, or you know, whatever you feel like… email me a time, place and maybe a phone or your email address and I’ll pass them on to everyone else.

What I had in mind for this meeting (I guess the weekend one) and some of the other ones that we manage to get together over the university holidays was to discuss what we’d like to do and be over the next year. In my mind this included developing a plan, schedule or calendar that has built into it a thread or narrative, in the hope that there won’t be as much reliance on all of us as individuals, and our session to session selection of texts when it comes to the maintenance threads of thoughts and themes. So the Coeztee reading in itself wasn’t for me going to be the focus of our discussions (but it still could be), but rather, a good example of a text that I know I for one am really looking forward to discussing and working through next year – something we can bounce off when thinking about what practically we are doing: reading and discussing texts.

Ok, that’s some jibba jabba from me. Let me know when’s good next weekendish (or if it’s not good at all and just have it postponed a bit further).

Something about christmas,
Daniel

5th Meeting

Hey peeps,

The date of the next meeting is yet to be determined, but is likely to be Monday, December 12. This will allow for just over 2 weeks of post-exam recovery - ample time to get through J. M. Coetzee's lecture  'The Lives of Animals'. The second reading, along with a brief description of where we thought this session might go, is forthcoming.

4th Meeting

The fourth meeting will happen on Monday the 17th of October at 5 o'clock. It will either happen in the ANUSA student space or the boardroom, and I'll update which it will be sometime tomorrow.

For this gathering we'll be reading the Afterword of the 2011 republication of Peter Singer's 1981 Book The Expanding Circle, to which it is a new addition. Within this chapter he discusses his meta-ethcial position, and how it has changed since the first publication of the volume.

I'll keep this short and see you all on Monday.

3rd Meeting

***Note*** This week's meeting has been postponed due to difficulties with google docs, see below for updated details

Hey folks,

The third meeting of the group will held on Wednesday October 5th at 5'oclock in the ANUSA Student Space (near the Commonwealth Bank in Union Court at the ANU)

We're going to focus on the role of reason in animal ethics. The two readings that have been selected propose approaches to the animal question which are in direct conflict. The first is by Jeremy Bentham, who calls for a rational animal ethics. Access it here: Bentham - A Utilitarian View. The second is by Cathryn Bailey, who argues that reason has historically been used as a tool of subjugation. In her view, rationalism is in fact the source of multiple oppressions - not least that endured by animals. Check it out here: Bailey - The Valorisation of Reason

2nd Meeting

The next meeting of this reading group will be held on Monday the 29th of August, at 5 o’clock, in the ANUSA Student Space that faces on to Union Court at the ANU.

The reading that we’ve selected for this session is a chapter from Marc Bekoff’s book “Minding Animals”, called Animal Minds and What’s in Them. In this chapter he presents an introductory discussion on what is known about the cognitive abilities and consciousness of non-human animals.

Thanks so much to the people who came along to our first gathering last week. I was glad to be a part of that conversation. And to those who couldn’t make it, and those that have just heard about this happening: we’d like to hear your piece – you’ll be more than welcome on Monday night.

*UPDATED 7-8-2011*

Over the course of this semester, we hope to engender a broad exploration of the animal question. This may include, but will not be limited to:

• the moral status of non-humans and its implications for human-nonhuman relations
• the intersect between animal philosophy and culture; moral objectivity and cultural relativism
• pain mechanisms and other biological/scientific bases for animal ethics 
• parallels between animal rights and other liberation struggles; black power, feminism, gender rights
• sociological perspectives on human-nonhuman relations; the process of othering

While we have our own ideas as to the direction in which the group could go, we are happy to amend the reading list on the basis of our ongoing discussions. Decisions in this regard will be made democratically.

Feel free to send suggestions to seanmunro_si@hotmail.com.

With a view to putting current attitudes toward non-human animals in some sort of historical context, we decided to begin with a few short pieces. One by René Descartes, an excerpt from the Bible and song from the 1967 film "Doctor Dolittle"

They can be accessed here:
Descartes - Animals Are Machines
Excerpt from the Bible (To download this as a pdf, select "File" on the left side of the window, underneath where it says Google. Then select "Download original".)
Doctor Doolittle's Song

This artwork is by Francisco De Goya.
The text on the table translates as "The sleep of reason produces monsters".