Other Animals, Other Gardens: Animal Difference and Politics in Davidson, Derrida, and Badiou

This essay explores the question of "animality" and "human difference" as problems for politics and philosophy. If thought is the difference between human and non-human animals, and if, as Badiou argues, "politics is a thought," does this mean that there is no "political dimension" to the human cohabitation of the earth with animals? Until we can conceive of a "common polity" among humans and other animals, there has to be a very careful consideration of strong borders that should not be crossed by humans.