Abstract

Three approximations to the understanding of nonhuman animals are discussed. Ethologists and philosophers of mind, guided by an objectifying model of cognition, have not enquired about the being-in-the-world of animals and their meaning. The continental tradition has been asking the right questions, but has not given adequate answers, as ontological discourse remains tied up with logocentrism. Kafka’s animal fictions are presented as an example of how the human logos can be attentive to the worlds of other animals and allow them to manifest themselves in their own being, an attitude defined as imaginary attentiveness.