Zwierzęce figle, czyli język i polityka jako improwizacje instynktu
Animal Pranks, or Language and Politics as Improvisations of Instinct

Author(s): Melania Krakowiak
Subject(s): Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: instinct; animal; automaton; Brian Massumi; play; language; politics
Summary/Abstract: The subject of the article is Brian Massumi’s call for a redefinition of the concept of instinct as proposed in his work What Animals Teach Us About Politics. Massumi, inspired by the ethological studies of Niko Tinbergen and Gregory Bateson, as well as the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, argues for an understanding of instinct as a creative force that is a manifestation of the reflexivity of all organisms. He rejects the traditional conceptualization of instinct as an automatic mechanism that determines animal behavior. I set this redefinition of instinct in the historical context of two visions of nature, as order and as chaos, referring to the thought of Descartes and Charles Darwin. Contrasting the mechanical understanding of the animal with the concept of fluid animality, Massumi shows that instinct is the basis of such phenomena as language and politics. I compare this new vision with the traditional concept of Aristotle’s dzoon politikon, while drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s concept of inclusive exclusion. I try to show how Massumi’s proposal can change our thinking about the animal continuum, paying particular attention to its seemingly paradoxical implication that what is most unique about humans is a manifestation of their animal nature.

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