{"id":{"repo_id":"utc","oai_identifier":"oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-2210"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/utc/oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-2210","repository":{"repo_id":"utc","name":"University of Tennessee - Chattanooga","base_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Otherwise than human: responsibility in the wake of disaster, an eco-deconstructive response to climate catastrophe","abstract":"This thesis will, firstly, assume a line of eco-deconstructive reasoning, which takes as its point of departure from other approaches to the environment the basic premises of deconstruction, which aim to de-center the ontological and epistemological assumptions of Western thought about the subject and language, and apply it to the concept of the human as a distinct and, most importantly, privileged being as this privilege has operated within language and culture, thereby demonstrating how climate catastrophe constitutes a fundamental rupture in traditional ontology. Secondly, I will turn towards the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas, as in present in his God, Death, and Time and Totality and Infinity, and bring the anthropocentrism at the heart of his philosophy to bear the weight of responsibility we owe to, not just our human neighbors but, more significantly, to our nonhuman neighbors at a time when those nonhuman others can no longer go unrecognized.","abstract_html":"This thesis will, firstly, assume a line of eco-deconstructive reasoning, which takes as its point of departure from other approaches to the environment the basic premises of deconstruction, which aim to de-center the ontological and epistemological assumptions of Western thought about the subject and language, and apply it to the concept of the human as a distinct and, most importantly, privileged being as this privilege has operated within language and culture, thereby demonstrating how climate catastrophe constitutes a fundamental rupture in traditional ontology. Secondly, I will turn towards the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas, as in present in his God, Death, and Time and Totality and Infinity, and bring the anthropocentrism at the heart of his philosophy to bear the weight of responsibility we owe to, not just our human neighbors but, more significantly, to our nonhuman neighbors at a time when those nonhuman others can no longer go unrecognized.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Harris, James W"],"institution":"University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Guy, Matthew Wayne","Stuart, Christopher; Palmer, Heather","College of Arts and Sciences"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:47:28Z","subjects":["Ecoliterature","Environmental responsibility","Semiotics and literature","Levinas, Chanonas, 1914-"],"languages":["English","eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/1023","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Guy, Matthew Wayne","Stuart, Christopher; Palmer, Heather","College of Arts and Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Harris, James W"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Masters theses","Text"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Ecoliterature","Environmental responsibility","Semiotics and literature","Levinas, Chanonas, 1914-"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/1023"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Dept. of English","M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis will, firstly, assume a line of eco-deconstructive reasoning, which takes as its point of departure from other approaches to the environment the basic premises of deconstruction, which aim to de-center the ontological and epistemological assumptions of Western thought about the subject and language, and apply it to the concept of the human as a distinct and, most importantly, privileged being as this privilege has operated within language and culture, thereby demonstrating how climate catastrophe constitutes a fundamental rupture in traditional ontology. Secondly, I will turn towards the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas, as in present in his God, Death, and Time and Totality and Infinity, and bring the anthropocentrism at the heart of his philosophy to bear the weight of responsibility we owe to, not just our human neighbors but, more significantly, to our nonhuman neighbors at a time when those nonhuman others can no longer go unrecognized."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Otherwise than human: responsibility in the wake of disaster, an eco-deconstructive response to climate catastrophe"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Guy, Matthew Wayne","Stuart, Christopher; Palmer, Heather","College of Arts and Sciences"],"dc:creator":["Harris, James W"],"dc:date":["2025-12-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["Dept. of English","M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts."],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis will, firstly, assume a line of eco-deconstructive reasoning, which takes as its point of departure from other approaches to the environment the basic premises of deconstruction, which aim to de-center the ontological and epistemological assumptions of Western thought about the subject and language, and apply it to the concept of the human as a distinct and, most importantly, privileged being as this privilege has operated within language and culture, thereby demonstrating how climate catastrophe constitutes a fundamental rupture in traditional ontology. Secondly, I will turn towards the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas, as in present in his God, Death, and Time and Totality and Infinity, and bring the anthropocentrism at the heart of his philosophy to bear the weight of responsibility we owe to, not just our human neighbors but, more significantly, to our nonhuman neighbors at a time when those nonhuman others can no longer go unrecognized."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/1023"],"dc:language":["English","eng"],"dc:publisher":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"],"dc:relation":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"],"dc:rights":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Ecoliterature","Environmental responsibility","Semiotics and literature","Levinas, Chanonas, 1914-"],"dc:title":["Otherwise than human: responsibility in the wake of disaster, an eco-deconstructive response to climate catastrophe"],"dc:type":["Masters theses","Text"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:47:28Z"}