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Seeing Animals, Speaking of Nature

Visual Culture and the Question of the Animal

University of Nottingham

This article analyses the use of images in the discourse of animal ethics in an attempt to see how visual cultural studies can contribute to the debate in environmental philosophy. Drawing on Derrida's critique of the utilitarian theory of animal liberation and Mitchell's analysis of iconoclasm in visual culture theories, the article argues that an iconoclastic strategy of visual representation in the discourse of animal ethics undermines the very objective of such an ethical theory. Two case studies — Peter Singer's animal liberation and J.B. Callicott's land ethic — illustrate an implacable tendency to essentialize the visual and animal identity.

Key Words: animal liberation • Derrida • environmental philosophy • iconocentrism • iconoclasm • visual culture

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