The Animal In Man

Maxan, a cunning fox, stalks the Leoran capital city of Crosswall as a “shadow”—a lone operative for the city guard who must never be seen or heard, and never engage with the enemy. But when he’s caught in an explosion that levels a city block, the fox ignores his mission and retrieves a dangerous artifact that could bring the whole planet of Herbridia to its knees: the relay, a weapon that turns civilized animals into savage beasts. Maxan must fight to keep the mysterious relay from falling into the hands of those who would abuse its power. There’s just one problem: he doesn’t know who to trust, or why he alone is immune to the deadliest weapon in the world. With Leora on the brink of a massive civil war, can Maxan find his allies in time to save animalkind from itself?

Ancient Greeks endeavored to define the human being vis-à-vis other animal species by isolating capacities and endowments which they considered to be unique to humans. This approach toward defining the human being still appears with surprising frequency, in modern philosophical treatises, in modern animal behavioral studies, and in animal rights literature, to argue both for and against the position that human beings are special and unique because of one or another attribute or skill that they are believed to possess. Some of the claims of man’s unique endowments have in recent years become the subject of intensive investigation by cognitive ethologists carried out in non-laboratory contexts. The debate is as lively now as in classical times, and, what is of particular note, the examples and methods of argumentation used to prove one or another position on any issue relating to the unique status of human beings that one encounters in contemporary philosophical or ethological literature frequently recall ancient precedents. This is the first book-length study of the ‘man alone of animals’ topos in classical literature, not restricting its analysis to Greco-Roman claims of man’s intellectual uniqueness, but including classical assertions of man’s physiological and emotional uniqueness. It supplements this analysis of ancient manifestations with an examination of how the commonplace survives and has been restated, transformed, and extended in contemporary ethological literature and in the literature of the animal rights and animal welfare movements. Author Stephen T. Newmyer demonstrates that the anthropocentrism detected in Greek applications of the ‘man alone of animals’ topos is not only alive and well in many facets of the current debate on human-animal relations, but that combating its negative effects is a stated aim of some modern philosophers and activists.

In 'The Open', contemporary Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben considers the ways in which the 'human' has been thought of as either a distinct and superior type of animal, or a kind of being that is essentially different from animal altogether.

" ... collects the bizarre adventures of Animal Man, a second-rate super hero struggling with real-life issues and moral dilemmas. Buddy Baker is a caring husband, devoted father, animal activist and super-powered being. But as he attempts to live up to all of his roles, he soon finds that there are no black and white situations in life. With a strong focus on storytelling, these thought-provoking and innovative tales make the reader question the actions of Animal Man as well as their own behavior in similar situations."--Amazon

Simondon is a secret password among certain discussions within philosophy today. As a philosopher of technology, Simondon’s work has a place at the forefront of current thinking in media, technology, psychology, and philosophy with complex accounts of man’s relationship to technology and the realm that continues to form itself via this tension between man and his technical universe. In this introduction to Simondon’s oeuvre, the reader has access to the grounding of one of the most fundamental and critical questions that has been the focus of philosophy for millennia: the relationship between man and animal.

ÒMorrison told the story of a kind-hearted, vegetarian hero who loses his family and is pushed to the brink of insanity before confronting his author in the runÕs extraordinarily meta finale.Ó ÑRolling Stone ÒGrant Morrison overhauled Animal Man in a typically imaginative manner.Ó ÑEntertainment Weekly ÒMorrison quickly became the hottest writer in the industry.Ó ÑComplex Magazine Buddy Baker, a.k.a. Òthe Man with Animal Powers,Ó is a second-rate superhero, devoted father and animal activist. There isnÕt much money in the hero game, and with a wife and kids to support, Buddy soon finds himself torn between trying to make a living through traditional super-heroics and getting more deeply involved in the questionably legal world of animal rights activism. But in todayÕs world, with real-life issues, who really needs Animal ManÕs protection? Is it humankind or the animals? Or is it Buddy himself? From the Eisner Award-winning and New York Times best-selling writer Grant Morrison comes one of his earliest, now classic, works exploring the nature of reality itself through the lens of a down-on-his-luck family-man superhero. This first of two 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition hardcovers collects Animal Man #1-13, the characterÕs dimension-spanning creation tale from Secret Origins #39 and an introduction by Grant Morrison.

Before Martha Stewart named him her “pet keeper,” and before millions of people turned to him for advice, Marc Morrone had a simple dream: to learn everything he possibly could about every kind of animal and share that knowledge with others. In this lively, colorful memoir, Morrone offers a heartfelt and candid look inside a life well-lived with creatures great and small, from the domestic to the exotic, from frisky ferrets to renegade reptiles to rare parrots. Morrone is an enthusiastic champion of all animals—furred, feathered, or scaled, domestic or wild—and his lifelong adventures take us from his internationally renowned pet store, Parrots of the World, to his home and personal menagerie, covering his media roles on both television and radio. Inspiring, informative, and frequently amazing, Morrone’s story is a memorable tribute to one man’s passion for the world of animals and his enduring commitment to their care. In A Man for All Species, animal expert Marc Morrone weaves thrilling, inspiring, strange, and often hilarious experiences with practical advice gleaned over his forty-year career, revealing a world of adventure and anguish, humor and heart, that every pet owner and animal lover will recognize.