Phenomenology and normativity: a Merleau-Pontian approach to animal ethics

This thesis begins by offering a critique of Kant's moral theory, demonstrating that what lies behind Kant's moral theory is a metaphysical excision separating the human and the animal, resulting in the exclusion of the animal from moral consideration. Drawing on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I provide an alternative metaphysical framework that illustrates the expressiveness of animal life. In approaching the task of moving from an ontology of animal life to the foundations of a moral theory, our focus shifts to the work of Hans Jonas and his unique argument for the obligating force ontology has upon us.