Society Bites: Phenomenological Aesthetics of the Ordinary and the Ordinary Cannibal

Bibliographic Details
Title: Society Bites: Phenomenological Aesthetics of the Ordinary and the Ordinary Cannibal
Authors: Molina Garcia Erika Natalia
Source: Open Philosophy, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 22-7 (2023)
Publisher Information: De Gruyter, 2023.
Publication Year: 2023
Collection: LCC:Philosophy (General)
Subject Terms: carnal phenomenology, carnal aesthetics of the ordinary, neocannibalism, gourmet ego, gourmet cogito, cannibal cogito, generative cannibalism, phenomenological aesthetics, Philosophy (General), B1-5802
More Details: Drawing on phenomenological aesthetics and on the haptic aesthetics of eating as a form of everyday aesthetics, I examine the phenomenon of eating our own as meaningful in three dimensions: vital/natural, somatic/individual, and cross-cultural. Usually conceived as a concrete, rare, and foreign practice, I show how cannibalism is present in our daily lives, both symbolically and as a liminal possibility towards which – as Freud noticed in 1913 – we all tended as children. Cannibalism is present not only in cinematic, literary, or visual art, and in anthropological research that situates it far from “us,” but through narratives and carnal dispositifs of differentiation/assimilation of the Same and the Other, fundamental for our subjective constitution. I conclude with a reflection on how the classical aesthetics of the sovereign subject develops towards alternative models like Pelluchon’s gourmet ego that re-establish the connexion and moral engagement lost by solipsism by means of alimentary metaphors, but also romanticizing them, failing to address the problem of voracity and overconsumption, both at a social and at an individual level. This is more suitably addressed by Viveiros de Castro’s idea of a cannibal cogito, but even better understood by Emmanuel Levinas’ enjoyment-contact model of subjectivity.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2543-8875
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2543-8875
DOI: 10.1515/opphil-2022-0265
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/bd7c4547d25b4dbc93f8d087d4ebaba1
Accession Number: edsdoj.bd7c4547d25b4dbc93f8d087d4ebaba1
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:25438875
DOI:10.1515/opphil-2022-0265
Published in:Open Philosophy
Language:English