Hermeneutics of Human-Animal Relations in the Wake of Rewilding: The Ethical Guide to Ecological Discomforts (The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics, 30)

In consequence of significant social, political, economic, and demographic changes several wildlife species are currently growing in numbers and recolonizing Europe. While this is rightly hailed as a success of the environmental movement, the return of wildlife brings its own issues. As the animals arrive in the places we inhabit, we are learning anew that life with wild nature is not easy, especially when the accumulated cultural knowledge and experience pertaining to such coexistence have been all but lost. This book provides a hermeneutic study of the ways we come to understand the troubling impacts of wildlife by exploring and critically discussing the meanings of 'ecological discomforts'. Thus, it begins the work of rebuilding the culture of coexistence. The cases presented in this book range from crocodile attacks to mice infestations, and their analysis consequently builds up an ethics that sees wildlife as active participants in the shaping of human moral and existential reality. This book is of interest not only to environmental philosophers, who will find here an original contribution to the established ethical discussions, but also to wildlife managers, and even to those members of the public who themselves struggle to make sense of encounters with their new wild neighbors. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: Silent Spring, Raucous Summer, and the Looming Winter of Our Discontent (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 1-19 Ecological Discomforts and How to Study Them (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 21-49 Risk (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 51-65 Interests, Costs, Benefits, and the Social Complexity of Discomforts (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 67-99 Wildness and the Preconditions for Meaningfulness of Nature (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 101-123 Discomforting Encounters with Nature as Moral Experiences (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 125-148 Individual Sacrifices and the Flourishing of Ecosystems (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 149-174 Towards a Wilder Community (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 175-197 Conclusion: Practicing Coexistence (Mateusz Tokarski)....Pages 199-223 Back Matter ....Pages 225-228