ONLINE FIRST
published on May 4, 2023
Bradford McCall

https://doi.org/10.5840/philtheol202353166
Derrida and Non-Human Animals
An Exploration of Shared Animality
Derrida¡¯s corpus explored the human animal/non-human animal (hereafter HA/NHA) binary. Indeed, in his writings, Western thought regarding the binary is examined, as well as its inherently anthropocentric framework. Derrida successfully, however, decon?structs its systems and highlights why the binary¡ªlargely¡ªremains in place. In Derrida¡¯s The Animal That Therefore I Am, he belies the Western tradition that separates NHAs from HAs by excluding them from things thought to be only proper to mankind: that is, thinking, laughing, perceptible suffering, and verbalization. Animals have traditionally been considered the absolute other of human beings, a view of otherness that has served as the rationale for their domi?nation, exploitation and slaughter. This type of ¡°animal thinking¡± may help us to think of the world¡ªor imagine the possibility of thinking about it¡ªin a non-exclusively human fashion. Looking at a possible theoretical framework that draws on both Whitehead and Derrida, we may posit that it consists of six ideas, some which are more Whiteheadian than others.