This post deals with intersections between the human:animal binary and other polarized ideals that humans use to understand and judge the world around them.
Just because these binaries are socially constructed does not mean they have no basis in reality, or are always destructive. Rather, they can be a useful tool for interpreting reality. However, they tend to reduce complex phenomena down to idealized essences that are more projections of the desires of the observer than they are reflections of the observed reality. Our modern conception of these binaries have their roots in Enlightenment European rationalism (with it's parallel questions of patriarchy, imperialism, race, human rights, scientific and technological development, notions of progress, etc) - as such, they have historically privileged propertied European male humans over all others, and been used to justify many forms of violence (slavery, colonialism, heteronormative sexism, ableism, war, genocide) against others.
It's hard to escape binaries, even when we recognize that they are limiting and destructive. They are so prevalent in our lives and ingrained in our education that they seem natural to human thinking. I certainly uphold them in this work - try to catch me when I do it.
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Midsaggital Slices by Gunter von Hagens |
Rene Descartes (the "I think, therefore I am" guy) is considered a major proponent of this duality, which suggests that the Mind (along with the associated ideals of Thought, Language, Reason, Spirit, Superego the Mental) is separate and superior to the Body (along with its correlates - Emotion, Instinct, Sensation, Id, the Physical). Indeed, we often assume that the Mind is "the seat of the soul", the very essence and definition of the individual. On the other hand, the Body is merely a vessel or medium for expressing the Mind. The Body's needs and desires are rudimentary or even filthy (sleep, eating, sex, excretion) while the Mind aspires towards transcendence (through art, philosophy, science).
The Mind:Body duality informs the human:animal binary, and vice versa. The Mind, language, thought and logic are considered to reside exclusively in the realm of the human. Only humans think, and to think is to be human, and, moreover (following Descartes), to think as a human is to be. Meanwhile, the Body, with it's base urges and mechanical functioning, is animal; to be an animal, is to be a body without a mind. This is why when a human acts violently or sexually (both being physical, bodily activities), they can be labelled animalistic.
How is this binary reductive? Well, I think it's a bit silly to segment your being into dual, opposing parts. Your nervous system which creates your thoughts is part of your body, and actually spread throughout your body (not localized in the brain). The same physical system that creates the Mind also produces the irrational instincts, emotions and sensations of the Body. Furthermore, everything your body experiences - everything you eat, everything you sense, every moment of pain and pleasure in your life - fundamentally shapes your personality, your mindset, your system of reasoning.
The close association of Mind with human and Body with animal links mental control over the physical world with human domination over other animals. It arbitrarily designates thought as precondition for a life form to be considered an intrinsically valuable being. The problem with this is that Mind can only be conveyed through the physical actions of the Body (speech, writing, bodily expression); furthermore, we recognize that action represents thought only through the limits of our own sensory organs and culturally-determined cognitive processes. Thus, we have serious difficulties recognizing Mind in organisms with significantly different cultures and bodies. It is easier to project traits onto others than it is to self-consciously observe and reflect - this is why the Mind:Body dualism has been historically used to deny the value of peoples with different languages, women and dispossessed peoples without access to education, mentally atypical people and differently-abled people. The Mind:Body intersection with human:animal encourages the perception that animals do not think, or think about thinking.
Perhaps the scariest effect of the Mind:Body binary is that it denies that reality is fundamental and consciousness emerges from it. By privileging the abstract representations over the reality they symbolize, we remove ourselves from responsible engagement with the objective world in favor of rationalizing it with words and logic. Do you see any irony in my writing this?
The Culture:Nature binary represents the profound division humans carve between themselves and their creations, and all other organic and inorganic entities. Culture can be defined most inclusively as the sum of all human phenomena that are not purely the result of genetics - this includes all political, economic and social organizations, activities and creations. Meanwhile, Nature represents the physical world uncorrupted by human influences. Culture:Nature relates directly to the two other binaries I've discussed: Culture contains and is produced by humans, by Minds; Nature contains and produces animals and Bodies. Other related binaries include Organization:Chaos, Order:Anarchy, City:Country, Artificial:Organic, and Tame:Wild.
How is this binary an oversimplification? Abstruse Goose makes a decent point:
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I think evolution is a powerful argument for the collapse of the human:animal and related binaries. Natural selection is really a social-biological process - it relies on the "Natural" processes of genetic mutation and relative fitness along with the "Cultural" activity of sexual selection. The process has modified bodies, behavior and consciousness through time. If we study evolution and comparative ethology, we cannot see the human species as the end point or final, best product of the history of the universe, but as one species out of billions, each with their own unique but evolutionarily linked cultures.
"If the Eiffel Tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would. I dunno." - Mark Twain, from Wikipedia
With all of the dichotomies I've discussed, the privileged ideal is exclusive in that it can only involve humans, while the lesser ideal is inclusive in that Mind, Culture and the human species emerge out of and in reality, are Bodies, Nature and animals. This is my goal for this post - to demonstrate how binaries exclude in order to privilege certain people, although under a critical lens, the dualisms become unified. My next post will deconstruct and demonstrate links between a few more binaries.
Until then, while you're thinking about this stuff check out the intricate biotechnological urban planning that goes into the construction of an ant colony. What do you think of this video? Is it okay for scientists to kill an entire city of ants to create this spectacle?
Wow, this is a very interesting commentary on the fall of the artificial:natural binary (and human:animal, etc). The video you posted about the ant city is astounding, I had never realized that insects and animals possessed the same intuitive architectural planning that humans pride themselves on. Equally interesting is your question of the morality of destroying an ant community for a scientific experiment. If a city of, say, cute little bunnies, was killed for a video, I doubt the human watchers would be too pleased with science. But ants are creepy and "alien" (to quote the movie) so its ok to flush them out with cement, right?
ReplyDeleteYour argument that mind:body is not an actual binary is quite the zen statement, I'm sure buddha agrees with you.
Ants are truly remarkable. The G rating implies that society isn't too concerned with children being bothered by their destruction for scientific purposes. I suppose the argument could be made that this is an example of desensitizing humans to animals suffering if done in the name of science. But the video is pretty cool.
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