Definitions HQ

An Animal (n.) in ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠natural history was paws and hoofs before it was respiratory systems or internal liquids — surfaces and lines, not functions or invisible tissues.

An Animal (n.) long ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠belonged for the West not to nature's wisdom but to anti-nature: a negativity that threatens order — as Lautréamont still knew.

An Animal (n.) need ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not look after itself — everything is laid on so it can serve us; man alone was handed over by God to his own care.

An Animal (n.) lives ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠on the frontier of life and death and bears within it a nucleus of anti-nature: a perpetual devouring of life by life — it kills because it lives. Nature can no longer be good.

The Animal (n.) left ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠disarmed since the Renaissance finds fantastic new powers in the nineteenth century: if life is a classification, the plant best expresses its essence; if a manifestation of life, the animal best displays its enigma.