E-Co-Affectivity

Marjolein Oele

Description

E-Co-Affectivity is a philosophical investigation of affectivity in various forms of life: photosynthesis and growth in plants, touch and trauma in bird feathers, the ontogenesis of human life through the placenta, the bare interface of human skin, and the porous materiality of soil. Combining biology, phenomenology, Ancient Greek thought, new materialisms, environmental philosophy, and affect studies, Marjolein Oele thinks through the concrete, living places that show the receptive, responsive power of living beings to be affected and to affect. She focuses on these localized interfaces to explain how affectivity emerges in places that are always evolving, creative, porous, and fluid. Every interface is material, but is also "more" than its current materiality in cocreating place, time, and being. After extensively describing the effects of the milieu and community within which each example of affectivity takes place, in the final chapter Oele adds a prescriptive, ethical lens that formulates a new epoch beyond the Anthropocene, one that is sensitive to the larger ecological, communal concerns at stake.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Plants and Affectivity: The Middle-Voiced Lives of Plants

2. Animals and Affectivity: Aisthēsis, Touch, Trauma, and Bird Feathers

3. Generative Human Affectivity: The Placenta as Place-and-Time-Making In-Between

4. Skin and Human Sapient Affectivity: Skin, Webbed Existence, Temporal Depth, and Trust

5. E-Co-Affectivity beyond the Anthropocene: On Soil and Soil Pores

Notes
Works Cited
Index

Sujets

• Ancient philosophy
• Applied ecology
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438478623
• Langue: English

Extrait

E-Co-Affectivity
SUNY series in Ancient Greek Philosophy

Anthony Preus, editor
E-Co-Affectivity
Exploring Pathos at Life’s Material Interfaces
MARJOLEIN OELE
Cover art: iStock by Getty Images.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2020 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Oele, Marjolein, author.
Title: E-co-affectivity : exploring pathos at life’s material interfaces / Marjolein Oele.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, 2020. | Series: SUNY series in ancient Greek philosophy | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019028129 | ISBN 9781438478616 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781438478623 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Emotions (Philosophy) | Senses and sensation.
Classification: LCC B105.E46 O35 2020 | DDC 113/.8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019028129
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my parents,
Jacoba Oele-Ruissen (1929–2012), and Laurens Oele (1923–2017)
And my brother,
Bastiaan Laurens Oele
For fueling my desire to know and care amid a world in need of compassion
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Plants and Affectivity: The Middle-Voiced Lives of Plants
Chapter 2 Animals and Affectivity: Aisthēsis , Touch, Trauma, and Bird Feathers
Chapter 3 Generative Human Affectivity: The Placenta as Place-and-Time-Making In-Between
Chapter 4 Skin and Human Sapient Affectivity: Skin, Webbed Existence, Temporal Depth, and Trust
Chapter 5 E-Co-Affectivity beyond the Anthropocene: On Soil and Soil Pores
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Illustrations
Figure 1.1 Arugula plants in the stage of seedling, when the roots develop and spread and rapid growth occurs. Pixabay Creative Commons.
Figure 1.2 Half-alive oak tree. Flickr Creative Commons. Photo by Odd Wellies.
Figure 1.3 Nitrogen-fixing nodule: A root nodule that lives in symbiosis with nitogren-fixing bacteria. Flickr Creative Commons. Photo by London Permaculture.
Figure 2.1 Different types of bird feathers. Illustration by Andrew Leach; property of Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Figure 2.2 Faultbars in the feathers of a Grey Heron ( Ardea cinerea ) and White Cockatoo ( Cacatua alba ). Photo by Jørgen Mortensen.
Figure 2.3 Faultbars in the feather of a European Blackbird ( Turdus merula ). Photo by Jørgen Mortensen.
Figure 2.4 Two horned owls allopreening: the owl on the left is assisting the other owl with preening. CC Creative Commons. Photo by Terry Llovet.
Figure 3.1 Placenta Post-Partum in Clinical Hospital Setting. Photo by Gerard Kuperus.
Figure 4.1 “Expanded Self,” 2015. Artwork by Sonja Bäumel. Being in the world as an individual really means being a multibeing community in a vital process of permanent exchange.
Figure 5.1 Soil. Pixabay Creative Commons.
Figure 5.2 Soil pores allow water and gas to move through soil. Flickr Creative Commons. Photo by John A. Kelley, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Figure 5.3 Soil quasi bricks , 2003. Artwork by Ólafur Elíasson. ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark, 2004. Photo by Poul Pedersen.
Acknowledgments
With a book title such as E-Co-Affectivity , it would be insensitive, if not outright wrong, not to acknowledge the soil and the various milieus that have informed, shaped, and inspired this project. If there was ever a place and time to address the factor of togetherness (the “co” of co-affectivity) that goes beyond simple addition to truly constitute a community, and if there was ever a place and time to address the home and milieu (the “eco” of eco-affectivity) that has made this very project possible, then here and now is the place and time to acknowledge this.
Addressing the academic home and milieu within which I have come into my own, I have to thank the University of San Francisco and its various institutional support mechanisms for promoting my academic research. First, being awarded NEH Chair at USF in 2016–17 allowed me time to finalize the draft and draw the main lines of this book manuscript together, as well as the opportunity to share my work with a broad public at USF, including colleagues, students, and staff. Second, over several years, USF’s Faculty Development Fund provided generous funding for research support, including financial support for travel to conferences and compensation for my research assistants. Third, at USF I have found an inspiring group of scholars who have provided encouragement over the past few years as I conceptualized and executed E-Co-Affectivity . I have spent many hours with each of my colleagues in weekly writing teams, weekend retreats, and summer writing programs, brainstorming ideas and providing mutual support. I owe deep gratitude to each and every one of my writing partners. Also, a special thank you is due to my colleagues in the philosophy department for their willingness to listen, discuss, critique, and encourage my efforts in each step of the process.
The other academic context instrumental in fostering this research is the Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition (PACT). Often, at PACT’s annual meetings my ideas were tested and consequently reshaped, and I had many thoughtful conversations that pushed this project further. At PACT, I owe special thanks to Geoffrey Ashton, Kim Carfore, Michael Eng, Tim Freeman, Josh Hayes, Chris Lauer, Danielle Meijer, Sam Mickey, Bob Mugerauer, Dorothea Olkowski, Emily Parker, Amanda Parris, Elizabeth Sikes, Peter Steeves, Sam Talcott, Brian Treanor, and Jason Wirth.
Outside of USF and PACT, acknowledgment is due to the Ancient Philosophy Society (APS), for offering a forum for continental interpretations of ancient philosophy and for inspiring me to carve my own path in reading ancient texts. More recently, as I increasingly found my work intersecting with topics in environmental philosophy, I have found a new vital home in the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (IAEP), and I owe thanks to IAEP for allowing me the space and time to present and discuss ideas that became part of this book.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the following journals for their kind permission to reproduce earlier versions of chapters 3 and 5. An earlier version of chapter 3 was published as “Openness and Protection: A Philosophical Analysis of the Placenta’s Mediatory Role in Co-Constituting Emergent Intertwined Identities” in Configurations 25, no. 3 (July 2017): 347–71. And an earlier, shorter version of chapter 5 was published as “E-Co-Affectivity beyond the Anthropocene: Rethinking the Role of Soil to Imagine a New ‘Us’ ” in Environmental Philosophy 16, no. 2 (Fall 2019): 291–317.
A special word of thanks is due to two research assistants who became my closest interlocutors, editors, and collaborators during this project: Darcy Allred and Daniel O’Connell. In the final stages, Darcy offered astute, thorough, and careful proofing and editing, keeping me on task and focused. Dan’s research support extended from the book’s conception through its completion. Enabled by virtual networks spanning the globe, his insights stimulated innovation, and his suggestions allowed me to keep the arc of the argumentation in view while pointing to crucial areas where my analysis needed to gain further traction. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this book would not be what it is without Dan’s loyal and generous research support.
During the publication process, the support from my editor at SUNY Press, Andrew Kenyon, has been remarkable. His enduring trust in me and enthusiasm for this project kept me grounded and hopeful. I also want to acknowledge the three anonymous peer reviewers who provided astute and thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. I am thankful for their comments, which allowed the ultimate version to be sharper in focus and argument, and more closely embedded in the philosophical literature.
Finally, as I think about the familial home that allowed me the time and energy to reinvent myself as a writer and scholar, I owe deep thanks to my lifelong companion and comrade-in-all-things-life-and-philosophy, Gerard, our children, Lars and Imma, and my feline desk-and-lap partner, Harry. I also want to acknowledge the extended Oele and Kuperus family, and the family of friends I acquired over the years, who encouraged me in my passion for this book project: Mylène Berlijn, Karen Einbinder, Carole Heath, Rachaelle Hilhorst, Nathan Hobbs, Shay Kim, Christian Lotz, Ad and Angela Peperzak, Corinne Painter, Jackie Scott, and Ronald Sundstrom.
The first home, or oikos , that undergirded my existence and enveloped me with love and trust needs special mention: my parents and my brother Bas. To them this book is dedicated.
Introduction
Inasmuch as the essence of community is affectivity, the community is not limited to humans alone. It includes everything tha