10.04.2022
[Pharresia] focuses on Philosophy, Culture, Tech, Theology, and more. The content stems from original pieces, curated links, and the occasional podcast.
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Newsletter. If you are opening this for the first time, you can find the last issue below, as well as some of the things I’ve been reading lately:
Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing well. Sorry for the long absence, but I had a busy Month. If you are interested in what I’ve been up to, you are welcome to look at the Newsletter before this one. I don’t have any significant updates for the time being, but I’ll state that things may still be slow until I get back into the grove of churning these out.
If you wish to help me in any way, consider supporting the Patreon all linked below, even if it’s for one month; we sincerely appreciate it, or even sharing this Newsletter, as it rapidly grows in the audience and clicks; any interaction means the world to me.
Hope to catch you all soon,
-C.N
Notes on Animalism, Nietzche and Deleuze
“The Animal is not… well, yes… what you said surely has a connection with domestic animals; animals that are domesticate, tamed, untamed, this does not worry me. But, the cats, the dogs… the problem is that they are familial and familiar animals. And it is true that familial and familiar animals, if domesticated or tamed, I do not like.” — Deleuze, L’abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze.
The quote above is from an interview with Deleuze in which an elderly Gilles Deleuze examines different themes, ideas, and concepts. The passage comes from the first letter A which stands for Animal. Deleuze talks about his problem with what he calls Familiar animals, primarily discussing Dogs and Cats. What I find particularly intriguing about the interview is a small section in which he goes on to express some of the reasons as to what bothers him, particularly about Dogs,
“A dog is another matter, what I fundamentally reproach the dogs for, is to bark. Barking seems to me the most stupid cry ever. God, there are many cries in nature; there is such a variety of cries. But the barking is the shame of the animal kingdom. Nevertheless, I bear it better, on condition that it does not last too long, the cry… I do not know how to say, the howling at the moon. A dog howling at the moon, I stand it better” -GD
When reading this transcript of the interview, it’s hard to miss the Nietzschean tones. The passage makes me think of one of Deleuze’s essays titled “Instincts and Institutions.” In this short essay, Deleuze states that while animals have instincts as a mechanism that is satisfied
“What does the social mean with respect to tendencies? It means integrating circumstances into a system of anticipation, and internal factors into a system that regulates their appearance, thus replacing the species. This is indeed the case with the institution. It is night because we sleep; we eat because it is lunchtime. There are no social tendencies, but only those social means to satisfy tendencies, means which are original because they are social. Every institution imposes a series of models on our bodies, even in its involuntary structures, and offers our intelligence a sort of knowledge, a possibility of foresight as project. We come to the following conclusion: humans have no instincts, they build institutions. The Human is an animal decimating its species.” - GD
With this in mind, we can understand why Deleuze came at the Dog with such reproach. In essence, a dog is a domesticated wolf. This creature has had its instincts distorted and molded by man. It finds satisfaction in its servitude. So when Deleuze alludes to being open to a Dogs howling to the moon, it is because, at this moment, the Dog is like a wolf again, a part which hasn’t been tamed, an instinct to be satiated not rooted in domestication.
Nietzche writes extensively about man the Animal, which is different than giving man-animal characteristics. Man as an Animal is to affirm man’s Vitality; Man often replaces their nakedness with the clothing of Morality. The shame of being a man and being in a fallen state. Man holds the resentment of their domestication, of ensnaring himself in his own reason. Like a dog, we find pleasure and satisfaction in our domestication. We find refuge from our animality in our institutions when Nietzche speaks of resentment; Nietzche is talking about the Slave morality that does not allow the man their freedom.
In the spare moments of reactivity, against conformity, against the order of things against what is natural, that is man's howl; that is when man is Animal once again.
~Links~
“Humans have no instincts; they build institutions. The Human is an animal decimating its species.” — Deleuze
I would also like to send a special thank you to my Patrons:
Mirrorvisc (Patreon name)
PantherModern (Patreon name)
My Patreon is connected to the podcast I co-host with @YAgamben.
We recently opened up a Patreon to help support the expenses to keep some of these operations running, including hosting and things of that nature.
We strictly want to follow a “buy me a cup of coffee” model, so any “donation” is welcome. If you want to support any of our work, consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/Decodecast.
-C.N.