Toward an Asymmetrical Duty of Care: Semiotic Continuity and Ontological Distinction in More-Than-Human Anthropology

https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.n59.05

José Manuel Hernández Garre
Universidad Católica de Murcia, España

Abstract:

We live in a world where relationships between humans and animals have been traditionally mediated by anthropocentric discourses constraining the understanding of potential ties. This article advances a theoretical reflection and an epistemic examination based on a relational ontology conceiving symbiotic co-existence between human and non-human entities, while acknowledging that their essence and ethical duty are asymmetrically allocated. Through a critical analysis of contemporary anthropology, ecosemiotics, and post-humanist philosophy, we deconstruct the tendency to radical symmetry in interspecies studies. Based upon this, we bring up the asymmetric duty of care model, a conceptual framework according to which coexistence between species may be addressed in light of interaction, mutual influence, and coadaptation, leaving moralizing or humanizing reductionisms. This conceptual framework is meant to assist ecosemiotic approaches in more-than-human anthropology.

Keywords: Relational ontology, symbiotic coexistence, more-than-human anthropology, ecosemiotics, bionarratives, duty of care.