The Mixed Category Human-Animal in New Anthropology and in the Arts

Considering animality in terms of interdependency between humans and animals may help us understand how different species have evolved and continue to do so through time. The stakes are high. Darwinian evolutionary theories, while based on the continuity of the species and while suggesting the idea of mutual derivation , e.g. of humans from animals, are mostly concerned with the origins; they are not concerned with whether and how humans and animals have evolved together socially and culturally. Even a superficial look at contemporary society, with its habits, tastes and recurring trends in fashion, design and the arts, shows that the border between the two categories is nothing but a threshold: the Umwelt of the humans has evolved by borrowing from the Umwelt of the animals, creating hybrids and interspecies (Ramos, Animals. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2016). The article presents a few illustrations of the forms and force of this evolution, and highlights the obstacles that may prevent various disciplines from seeing it as it is, i.e. as a participatory process.