Against the sameness principle

The article is a review of Joanna Bednarek’s book Życie, które mówi. Nowoczesna wspólnota i zwierzęta [A Life that Speaks. The Modern Community and Animals]. In her book, Bednarek aims at redefi ning the question of animals (especially non-human beings) and their presence in the community of all animate beings. She goes against the utilitarian and abolitionist movements claiming that animals should have equal rights to human beings because of their similarity, either in their sensibility or in their non-questionable biological lives. Bednarek proposes a critical return to Spinosian ontology (through the lens of Deleuzian interpretation and biosemiotics), and argues for a community of beings based on their ability to speak (precisely, their ability to create signs). Linking some points from agential realism and new materialism with the Rancièrian concept of a community, Bednarek shows how we can go beyond the sameness principle and build our solidarity with non-human beings on their relation, not only with us, but with all the nonliving environment