‘The creatures,too,must become free’: Marx and the Animal/Human Distinction

Abstract

In order to establish what it is that makes us essentially human Marx, like Aristotle, distinguishes between humans and other animals. The distinction rests on how we produce, and it remains defensible, despite recent commentaries which argue that it involves a dis respectful view of animals. Marx's humanism involves a naturalism which is incompatible with purely instrumental attitudes towards animals. Just as his critique of capitalism exposes the degradation of humanity, so the movements struggling for animal protection expose the ruthless cruelty to animals inherent in the accumulation process, and in doing so they constitute themselves as antisystemic movements.