Lost (animal) soul relics

Abstract

The questions guiding this article are the following: Why did the soul, which was a characteristic of other non-human modes of being, from its beginnings in Western philosophy, end up being a prerogative of humans? Why did Western culture "take away" the soul from animals (and from plants, and from the entire earth)? For what reasons did a way of considering animals become hegemonic (in Western culture) that not only deprived them of the soul attributed to them, but also generated ever more reasons and arguments to justify the exploitation, use, and killing of animals? In this sense, it is possible to point to some of the reasons for this "loss" of the animal soul, from the economic, political, and social contexts of certain historical moments that needed (and continue to need) to justify the absence of a "soul" in animals. The article develops some aspects of the question of the animal soul in the 19th century and then points out some items of that consideration in the 21st century, from two metaphysical perspectives. Finally, an idea of the animal as a crypt and as a rest is proposed, in a Derridean sense.