From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Thu Nov 23 2006 - 11:47:31 EST
> Just one point I am missing in this debate. The issues concerning humans' > relation to other animals should be articulated in the light of what Marx > calls humanisation of nature - not enslavement. There is a passage in > Capital where Marx tallks about humans relation to donky. The > implication is this: if humans would deal with a donky as donky they > would degrade themselves to a donky. > Therefore they must deal with a donky as a human as much as possible. So > Marx's point is not enslavement but humanisation of organic as well as > anorganic nature. Hi Dogan This was a progressive social perspective from the standpoint of the 19th Century, a period when there were emerging social movements opposing cruelty to animals and demanding that animals be treated in a more "humane" way. I have my doubts as to whether it remains an enlightened and progressive perspective from the standpoint of the 21st Century. btw, if humans treat non-humans as if they were humans then isn't this simply a form of fetishism? In solidarity, Jerry
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