Author/Authors :
balanuye, çetin akdeniz üniversitesi - edebiyat fakültesi - felsefe bölümü, Antalya, Turkey
Abstract :
The phenomenon of swallowing, most probably because of the anthropocentric predisposition of human beings, is usually associated with the mouth . The human being, just like other animals with whom is found a large resemblance, eats, swallows and/or digests something. Swallowing, therefore, is no more than an ordinary way of obtaining nutrition via the mouth for all those animals including humans. The ordinary and unreflected acceptance of this so-called trivial fact, however, hinders philosophy from developing a systematic interest in this phenomenon. The fact that there is hardly a philosopher in the entire canon of Western philosophy who explicitly studied this phenomenon is perhaps caused by its supposed triviality and irrelevance. Yet, when we forget these suppositions for a while and begin to think in more creative ways, we may easily come to realize that this phenomenon provides a vast opportunity to shed light on various metaphysical issues. The concept of swallowing can well be thought of as a way of assimilating others and other things to any individual I , i.e., an idea which is valid not only for humans but also for all other living and nonliving things. It blurs the so-called boundaries of any kind of individual and serves as a legitimate ground to help him/her/it survive as such. This possibility, in a sense, sets the stage for an ethological tension. This article is an attempt to elaborate this stage from somewhat Spinozian perspective and develops a speculative strategy to benefit from the concept of swallowing.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
Spinoza , Swallowing , Metaphysics , Individuation
