[...] his three sons, to share with them the little he still owned. He said to them='lgc'>: my sons, I have eleven camels. I bequeath half of them to the oldest, a quarter to the second son, and to you, my youn="trms">gest, I give a sixth. Upon the father's death, the sons found themselves quite perplexed='lgc'>: how to divide their in="trms">heritance='qstn'>? A war over the division of goods seemed inevitable. With no apparent solution, the sons went to a neighbouring village to seek advice from an old sage. The old man thought awhile and then shook his head='lgc'>: I cannot resolve this problem. The only thing I can do for you is to give you my old camel. He is not very obedient and often does as he pleases. I don't know if you can use him but I think he may help you divide your in="trms">heritance. The sons brought the old camel back with them and divided up the in="trms">heritance='lgc'>: the first then received six camels, the second three and the youn="trms">gest two. This then left the camel of the old sage, which they could return to his owner.
, ,
‘'’ ‘'’ ‘'’ ‘’
this parable reveals particular and essential dimension of all forms of in="trms">heritance='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•='lgc'>[="ppl">="ppl">Despret:='lgc'>] they place us in a ="trms">position of ="trms">obligation ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to work out
="lsts lst1">•='lgc'>[="frds">Sina:='lgc'>] they had to go to the foreign to figure out their in="trms">heritance
="large lg2" stl="font-size:111%">
the sons have to work out the ='strcls'>*="trms">position of ="trms">obligation='strcls'>*
='strcls'>*****in="trms">heritance (passed on as something that appears impossible) as such requires you to ='strcls'>*start from='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= about, concerning, with='lgc'>] this in="trms">heritance
="lsts lst1">•“start from” implies precisely the fact of remaining ="trms">obligated to that ='strcls'>*from='strcls'>* which we speak, think, or act ='lgc'>[='lgc'>~ learn from ='and'>& create from events='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•“being ="trms">obligated” implies learning to do, speak, act, decide, not about these events, not concerning them, not facing or against them, but from them
='lgc'>==> you are bound ='lgc'>: ='strcls'>*you honor the terms of the problem='strcls'>* (such as it is posed along with its contra="trms">dictions ='lgc'>~ fubar)
='lgc'>==> (help you to) resist the common sense (or less common sense) solutions
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]in="trms">heriting='lgc'>: an act that ="trms">demands thought and commitment, an act that calls for our transformation by the very gift of in="trms">heriting ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='mywrk'>my work on ="nms">ajayeb, you start from ="nms">ajayeb (better than “coughing”='qstn'>?)
Despert in ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading ="ppl">Derrida through ="ppl">="ppl">Haraway ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> studying the way in which ="trms">scientists were beginning to ="trms">respond to their ="trms">animals ='and'>& becoming attentive to the ="trms">animals’ ="trms">responses in trun
='lgc'>[="frds">Sina ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">="ppl">Despret ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">="ppl">Haraway='lgc'>] ='strcls'>***to in="trms">herit is an act that ="trms">demands a transformation on the part of the in="trms">heritor='strcls'>***
the importance of transforming that which is transmitted to us
thinking from ="trms">animals
(="ppl">="ppl">Despret working on) the meaning of ”(starting) from” ='lgc'>[a partir de='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•for philosophers='lgc'>: to depart from ="trms">animals, to leave them as quickly as possible and never to return ='lgc'>==> “="trms">animal='lgc'> = text ='and'>& pretext” ='lgc'>: its function is to provide a reason for going (partir) elsewhere ='lgc'>[='lgc'><='lgc'>-- i have done this='lgc'>]
getting involved ='lgc'>--to='lgc'>='lgc'>--> martyrdom
="trms">author-turned-ethologist ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> classic genres of ethological ="trms">literature
(a ="trms">matter of) ='strcls'>*performing through ="trms">narration the passing ="trms">obligation that is now mine='strcls'>*
(="ppl">="ppl">Latourian) ='strcls'>*amateur='lgc'>: a person who likes and cultivates her tastes and does her best to cultivate a kind of becoming-sensitive to the ="trms">world='strcls'>*
in ethology (and in ="trms">animal ="trms">sciences) monologues make terrible ="trms">narratives
='lgc'>[='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Femke, ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Pierre, ='qstn'>?can we do without='lgc'>] the philosophical tradition of='lgc'>: ='strcls'>**searching for traces of ideological and political contamination='strcls'>** in the work of ="trms">scientific ="trms">natura="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list (or whatever other field) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> you (often) find a perfect target for this ="trms">sort of critique
="lsts lst1">•(pay attention to) what makes a perfect target for your ="trms">sort of critique (='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Laura's Jane Fonda, etc.)
='lgc'>[="trms">zoological ="trms">bird:='lgc'>] ="trms">sociobiological ="trms">literature prepares you to accept a certain kind of fact about this ="trms">bird ='lgc'>=/= Zahavi's babblers however do (altruism ='and'>& cooperation) in a remarkably more inventive and diversified way and for entirely ="trms">different reasons that ="trms">sociobiological ="trms">birds
="trms">anthropocentrism (credit ="trms">birds with complex intentions, and ='lgc'>[why='qstn'>?='lgc'>] complex intentions always seem human)
to see ="trms">birds as “dancing” and for fairly complex reasons could only have been a result of the fact that the observers projected ="trms">onto the ="trms">animals their own frameworks and experiences
="ppl">="ppl">Despret observing the ="trms">birds ='lgc'>+ their ethologist ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the ="trms">birds made Zahavi ="trms">interesting
(="ppl">="ppl">Despret discovering that) any theory of re="trms">presentation was at once partial and totalizing, because it proposed to elucidate the complex work of ="trms">relations and encounters from the sole standpoint of the human
(how ="ppl">="ppl">Despret became) ="trms">interested in actual practices (with ="ppl">="ppl">Stengers and ="ppl">="ppl">Latour), in the way they ="trms">articulated ="trms">questions and ="trms">responded to ="trms">questions
='strcls'>****="trms">stories that ="trms">scientists ='lgc'>[and Disney or Hollywood='lgc'>] develop about ="trms">animals are also our ="trms">stories='strcls'>**** ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> these ="trms">stories transform humans and their ="trms">animals
='lgc'>--="ppl">="ppl">Stengers='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">sciences (of the contemporaneity) for which='lgc'>: ='strcls'>**production of knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge='lgc'> = production of a way of being='strcls'>** ='lgc'>==> (they do not reveal what ="trms">animals are, rather) they follow and accompany an act of becoming together ='lgc'>: ='strcls'>*an act of becoming with the ="trms">stories that we construct concerning them='strcls'>* (good or bad)
="lsts lst1">•="trms">birds will have been far more ="trms">interesting starting from the moment that Zahavi proposed to connect their ="trms">stories to others ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>~-> how ="nms">Cinderella became ="trms">interesting for me when her ="trms">stories became connected to other ="trms">stories ='lgc'>=/= restructure her ="trms">story to make her fit my contemporary political correctness='lgc'>]
="lsts lst1">•sheep will have been far more sophisticated starting from the moment that Thelma Rowell asked them ="trms">interesting ="trms">questions
='strcls'>**to ask ="trms">interesting ="trms">question='lgc'>: to create conditions in which sheep ='lgc'>[beings, your subject='lgc'>] are able to de="trms">monstrate an ="trms">interest in these ="trms">questions
='strcls'>**="trms">interesting research='lgc'>: looking at the conditions that allow beings to become ="trms">interesting
='lgc'>{ how ="trms">scientists made their ="trms">animals ="trms">agents='lgc'> = how ="trms">scientists created the conditions for certain ="trms">responses with respect to what was being asked of the ="trms">animals ='lgc'>}='lgc'>--="ppl">="ppl">Despret='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how these changing ="trms">animals ='strcls'>*became real='strcls'>* by way of the very ='strcls'>*test of transformation='strcls'>* that had been proposed to them (='lgc'>~ how they were involved in the “process of verification”) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*to understand the ="trms">system of truth that was ay the heart of these tests='strcls'>* (='lgc'>=/= to produce an umpteenth critical analysis of “re="trms">presentation” ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Pierre)
='lgc'>==> you are under the same constraints as those in whom you had placed your confidence
='at'>@="frds">Sina='lgc'>: do not construct knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge about your mother behind her back! ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> getting to know what ="trms">matters (to them, to her) ='lgc'>==> allows transformations to occur
="prgrph">-i usually did both (as mentor in ="nms">apass), construct knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge behind people's back ='lgc'>[psychosis='lgc'>] ='and'>& getting to know what ="trms">matters to them ='lgc'>[="trms">paranoia='lgc'>]
(="ppl">="ppl">Despret discovered) one (unignorable) thing that ="trms">mattered to ="trms">scientists was='lgc'>: how ="trms">animals take an active part in the knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge that is produced about them
(why working on ="nms">ajayeb ="trms">bestiary involves becoming ="trms">interested in ="trms">sciences='lgc'>:) you work on ="trms">animals ='lgc'>--immediately='lgc'>='lgc'>--> you are marking on ="trms">scientists
="large lg3" stl="font-size:112%">
i re="trms">member the way i anticipated where a pigeon, a cat, spider, or ants, would make a home, a niche, in my ="trms">childhood house...
the ="trms">difference between ‘what i ="trms">imagined’ ='and'>& ‘where the nest actually appeared’ ='lgc'>==> made the ="trms">world far more ="trms">interesting
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> looking at the perception of ="trms">animals (when you are ="trms">child)
inventive and remarkable ="trms">birds
happiness of sheep
sadness of captive wolves in a park in the Lorraine ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*not because they were captive but because captivity had transformed them into stupid and cruel beings='strcls'>*
='lgc'>[it is good to be able to say that='lgc'>] certain ="trms">scientists not only do “bad ="trms">science” (which remains a way of keeping distance) but that they do “="trms">science badly”
="large lg4" stl="font-size:112%">
creatures that happened to be ="trms">animals
creatures that happened to be ghosts
creatures that happened to be ...
(the influence of) Anglo-Saxon ="trms">animal studies ='lgc'>[on me='lgc'>]
="large lg5" stl="font-size:158%">
(in ="ppl">="ppl">Despretian way) learning to think from ="trms">love
(the bad) ="trms">fable of coming out of the closet
there is no closet. there are transformations.
falling from a horse, on a path that no longer leads to Damascus
(the ="trms">story of) Saul does not answer God; he politely asks him to wait two minutes while he comforts his horse. let God wait; other things ="trms">matter ='lgc'><='lgc'>--="ppl">="ppl">Despret='lgc'>-- this is where true conversation takes place
(a philosophy, or thought) one of='lgc'>: [...]