{"product_id":"different-beasts-sonya-n-zzbey-9780197841013","title":"Different Beasts: Humans and Animals in Spinoza and the Zhuangzi","description":"\u003cem\u003eDifferent Beasts\u003c\/em\u003e studies conceptions of human and animal identity as articulated in the ancient Chinese text known as the \u003cem\u003eZhuangzi\u003c\/em\u003e and in the works of the seventeenth-century European philosopher Benedict de Spinoza. By examining how, in these very different philosophies, notions of humanness and animality intersect with ideas about human unity and solidarity, social order, and social difference categories (such as gender, descent, and ability), \u003cem\u003eDifferent Beasts\u003c\/em\u003e opens new paths for understanding Spinoza and the \u003cem\u003eZhuangzi\u003c\/em\u003e while also developing methodological insights into the practice of cross-cultural comparative philosophy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eDifferent Beasts\u003c\/em\u003e critically engages with a long tradition of reading Spinoza together with Asian \"wisdom literatures\" and especially with canonical Chinese texts. Interpretations of these works, which are outside the mainstream philosophical canon (defined from a certain Euro-American perspective), often see them as premised on a harmonious view of the world, free of tensions between humans and the nonhuman world. \u003cem\u003eDifferent Beasts \u003c\/em\u003eadds to the literature of animality and to the practice of turning one's attention toward \"non-canonical\" philosophical texts to seek new understandings. However, it argues that the transformative potential of studying these texts does not lie in their allegedly harmonious view of the world but in the variety of ways they exhibit humans' uniqueness, foolishness, or superiority, which can help us further understand our own often contradictory investments in the human-animal binary.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sonya N. Özbey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0197841015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780197841013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/01\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 344\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.11lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.23h x 6.15w x 0.82d","brand":"Sonya N. Özbey","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48154151715071,"sku":"9780197841013","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_114e6307-64dc-4e65-8083-0a09d28126d5.jpg?v=1770788239","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/different-beasts-sonya-n-zzbey-9780197841013","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}