Discourse First, Cages Second: A New Locus for Animal Liberation

摘要

The Animal that was named, categorized, and excluded from the human community by the Greeks has seeped into society at multiple points. This Animal now exists in a paradoxical limbo where she is both excluded from social standing and moral consideration while at the same time being included, utilized and discussed within all sectors of society from advertising to philosophy, neuroscience to the pet industry, religion to farming. Thus, animals have been caught up in multiple mechanisms of explanatory terminology, symbolic use, and physical captivity which all work together to create a Discourse of the Animal, which is employed both by those who seek to justify animal use and those who advocate animal liberation. This paper offers a speculative reflection on the development and deployment of the Discourse of the Animal, its reliance on western notions of political subjectivity, and suggests that the biological lives of particular beings invite us beyond discourse to new, though perhaps costly, conceptions of liberation for all beings.