Living in a Parasite: Marx, Serres, Platonov, and the Animal Kingdom. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Timofeeva, Oxana
• Is Part Of: Rethinking Marxism. Volume 28:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 91
• Page End: 107
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Nature -- Parasite -- Andrey Platonov -- Karl Marx -- Michel Serres; Communism -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 335.4305
• DOI: 10.1080/08935696.2015.1123008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0893-5696

Abstract

Abstract : This essay addresses the metaphor of the animal kingdom as applied to a philosophical analysis of human society, particularly in the work of Karl Marx and Michel Serres. It creates a virtual dialog between Marx, Serres, and Hegel about the parasitic structure in nature and society and analyzes the dialectics of animal multiplicity, capital, spirit, mediation, and universality. This analysis focuses first on the animal/bestial aspects of social ontology. It historically problematizes the question of the encounter between nature and history. Referring to the writings of Russian communist writer and intellectual Andrey Platonov, the essay further investigates the Marxist origins of Russian avant-garde culture and its politics of nature.