Table Of ContentBeyondNature
Historical Materialism
Book Series
EditorialBoard
LorenBalhorn(Berlin)
DavidBroder(Rome)
SebastianBudgen(Paris)
SteveEdwards(London)
JuanGrigera(London)
MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam)
PeterThomas(London)
volume 235
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm
Beyond Nature
AnimalLiberation,Marxism,andCriticalTheory
By
MarcoMaurizi
leiden | boston
TheLibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailableonlineathttp://catalog.loc.gov
lcrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2021032818
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issn1570-1522
isbn978-90-04-46664-7(hardback)
isbn978-90-04-46665-4(e-book)
Copyright2021byMarcoMaurizi.PublishedbyKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands.
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Marco Maurizi - 978-90-04-46665-4
Contents
Introduction 1
1 TheSoulofAnimalsunderSocialism 1
2 DidYouSay‘Dialectics’? 6
3 Singer&Sons 7
4 AgainstAnimalLiberationIdeology 10
5 CriticalFailures 17
6 HegelianAnimalSpirits 18
7 TheStructureoftheBook 22
part 1
CritiqueofAnimalLiberationIdeology
1 WhatIsAntispeciesism? 29
1 ThreeDifferentDefinitions 29
2 ASociologicalFallacy 30
3 MetaphysicalandHistoricalAntispeciesism 32
4 AnimalLiberationandHumanLiberation? 35
2 OntheGenesisofSpeciesism 40
1 TheAmbiguityofSpeciesism 40
2 TheOriginofSpeciesism 42
2.1 DominionasPraxis 43
2.2 DominionasIdeology 45
3 How? 47
4 SpeciesismandHumanLiberation 51
3 AnimalRightsActivismandItsDiscontents 55
1 TwoFormsofPraxis:ConflictandInclusion 55
2 Conflict 56
2.1 SocialLifeIsNottheReificationofIndividualBehaviour 56
2.2 TheJuridicalIllusion 58
3 Inclusion 68
3.1 UnderstandingtheMessage 68
3.2 AcceptingtheMessage 77
4 The‘Bottom-Up’ChangeIsaDisguisedHierarchicalChange 79
5 VeganismIsNotaModeofProduction 81
Marco Maurizi - 978-90-04-46665-4
vi contents
part 2
MarxismandAnimalLiberation
4 MarxismandAnimalRights 87
1 OneStruggle? 87
2 AnimalRightsvs.Marx 88
3 TheRoleofAnimalsinMarxism 101
3.1 MarxandEngelsonVegetarianismandAntivivisectionism 101
3.2 WhataretheImplicationsofMarx’sTheoryforAnimal
Liberation? 105
4 TheRealProblem:AnimalAlienation 108
5 MarxismandtheRepressionofNature 111
1 AnimalandCapital 112
1.1 TheSystemicAnalysisofCapital 112
1.2 TheGeneticAnalysisofCapital 114
2 HistoryandNaturalHistoryinMarxandEngels 117
2.1 LabourandHomination 117
2.2 HumanLabourandAnimalActivity 118
3 FromPrimitiveCommunismtotheEarlyStates 122
3.1 ProgressandClassStruggle 122
3.2 ProgressandAnimalExploitation 128
4 Conclusion 130
6 TheDialecticalAnimal 132
1 AnimalityandAnthropopoiesis 132
2 FromtheInstituteforSocialResearchtothe‘FrankfurtSchool’ 135
3 FromNaturetoAnimals 138
4 TheStructureofDomination 139
5 TheSpecificRoleofAnimalsintheGeneralSchemeof
Domination 141
6 TheDialecticalAnimal 145
6.1 ‘TheTriumphofCultureandItsFailure’ 145
6.2 TheFalseAlternativesofCivilisation 147
7 MaterialisticSolidarity 150
8 ANew‘DialecticsofNature’ 155
8.1 NatureasRemembrance 156
8.2 TheLiberationofNature 156
9 TheReconciliationofNature 159
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contents vii
part 3
Conclusion:BeyondNature
7 TowardsaPost-NeolithicSociety 163
1 MaterialismandTechnē 163
2 UniversalHistoryasaCatastrophe 167
3 TheUniversalHumanBeingandtheEnlargedAnimalSociety 170
4 Rienfairecommeunebête 172
8 TheAporeticNatureoftheTheory/PraxisOpposition 177
Epilogue:AntispeciesismandAnticapitalism 186
References 191
Index 206
Marco Maurizi - 978-90-04-46665-4
Marco Maurizi - 978-90-04-46665-4
Introduction
Thewaytoridourselvesofourmastersisnotforhumankinditselfto
becomeacollectivemasterovernature,buttorecognizetheimpos-
tureintheverynotionoftheMaster.1
∵
1 TheSoulofAnimalsunderSocialism
IhavealwaysbeenaMarxistandanAnimalRightsActivist,andIhavealways
thought that it was perfectly normal to stand against human and animal
exploitation. Over time, I have learnt that this conviction of mine was not
very popular among socialists and animal liberationists: both tend to reject
theotherviewasa‘diversion’fromtheirmaingoalsandbotharesuspicious
ofanyattempttofindalinkbetweenhumanandanimaloppression.Iwould
notbotherthereaderwithsuchpersonalremarksifIdidnotthinkthatthose
whowantustochoosebetweenhumansandanimalsarewrong.ThemoreI
immersedmyself intheMarxistandAnimalLiberationliterature,infact,the
more I noticed that the arguments used in both fields to dismiss the other
strugglewerenotconvincing.Thisbookisanattempttoshowthatthereisno
theoretical reason for sacrificing the human or the animal interest, no defin-
itiveargumentforchoosingbetweenhumanandanimalliberation,between
anticapitalismandantispeciesism.
If this book has something to say, the reader will find it at such a the-
oretical level. I am obviously aware that there have always been Marxists
whohappenedtobeAnimalRightsActivistsandAnimalRightsActivistswho
happenedtobeMarxists.ThepointIwanttomakeisadifferentonethough:
my aim is to show that the two struggles can be thought of as one and the
same. At the same time, I do not wish to minimise the huge practical prob-
lems that such a unitary vision could face.To start with, Marxism has often
understooditself asarathercoldandscientificapproachtoreality:thecon-
futation of ‘Romantic’, ‘sentimental’, ‘Utopian’ Socialism is part of its basic
assumptions. The struggle for human emancipation is a hard one, the road
1 Žižek2010,p.243.
© MarcoMaurizi,2021 | doi:10.1163/9789004466654_002
Marco Maurizi - 978-90-04-46665-4
