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The animal condition in the human condition: Rethinking Arendt’s political action beyond the human species

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Contemporary Political Theory Aims and scope

The victory of animal laborans refers to the triumph of the values of labor over those of homo faber and of man as zoon politikon.

Maurizio Passerin D’Entrèves, The Political Philosophy of Hannah Arendt

Abstract

This article puts Arendt’s conception of non-human animal appearance into a productive dialogue with recent developments in critical animal studies (CAS) and animal rights theory (ART) within which notions such as (dependent) agency, zoopolis, and animal agora play an important role. By reinterpreting the animal condition in Arendt’s account of the human condition, it demonstrates her potential contribution to political theory in a world where non-human-animals and nature are seen as making claims of entry into the political community. By emphasizing Arendt’s later work, in which she expresses an openness towards the possibility that non-human animals are drawn to appear (and not just for appetite satisfaction), the article indicates how Arendt might help us, both to rethink the boundaries of the political community beyond the human species, and to recognize the political agency of non-human animals.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Jonna Pettersson for comments to an early draft of the article at the ASLCH Conference in London (2013), and to Lida Maxwell and Ayten Gündogdu for their insights at the WPSA Conference in San Diego (2016). I would also like to thank Gisela Heffes for feedback at the LASA Conference in New York (2016). Later versions were commented on by Miguel Vatter, Nicole Darat, Cristian Rettig, Julieta Suárez Cao, and Facundo Vega. Special thanks go to Bonnie Honig for her substantial feedback to an advanced version of the manuscript. Finally, I would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and critiques. All remaining mistakes are my own.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile

    Diego Rossello

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Rossello, D. The animal condition in the human condition: Rethinking Arendt’s political action beyond the human species. Contemp Polit Theory 21, 219–239 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41296-021-00495-9

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