The Boundaries of Human Nature

Matthew Calarco explores key issues in the philosophy of animals and their significance for our contemporary world. The Boundaries of Human Nature shows readers why philosophy can help transform not just the way we think about animals but also how we interact with them.

Matthew Calarco is professor of philosophy at California State University, Fullerton. His books include Zoographies: The Question of the Animal from Heidegger to Derrida (Columbia, 2008) and Beyond the Anthropological Difference (2020).

Edward S. Casey, author of The World on Edge:
The Boundaries of Human Nature presents in elegant and succinct prose how animals have been regarded by leading thinkers from the Jains and early Greek thinkers to modern and late modern philosophers. Calarco gleans from this array of diverse authors a profound lesson: namely, that animals require our utmost regard and appreciation rather than being made subject to slaughter and mass extermination.

Thom van Dooren, author of The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds:
In this fascinating and thoughtful book, Calarco assembles a menagerie of animals and their philosophers to offer an engaging exploration of the many diverse, unequal, and often highly consequential ways in which human lives are made both meaningful and liveable in company with our animal others.

Anat Pick, author of Creaturely Poetics: Animality and Vulnerability in Literature and Film:
From Plato to Haraway, Matthew Calarco's philosophical travelogue explores the pitfalls of human exceptionalism and the promise of a less violent future in which humans and more-than-humans can collectively thrive. At a time of ecological meltdown, philosophy is the pharmakon: both poison and cure in the life-saving quest for multispecies flourishing.

Dinesh Wadiwel, author of The War Against Animals:
Matthew Calarco is a leading voice in philosophical animal studies. This book offers an accessible overview of diverse philosophical perspectives on animals, ranging from ancient sources to some of the most cutting-edge contemporary perspectives. Throughout Calarco writes with passionate clarity, encompassing warmth and compassion.

Cynthia Willett, author of Interspecies Ethics:
An elegant dive into philosophical perspectives on the human and the animal, ranging from ancient traditions to ecofeminism. Calarco intersperses new insights on animal capacities for moral agency, emotions, and language to support an argument for veganism. The result is a compelling read that invokes a sense of wonder before the mysteries of our fellow creatures.