The rhetoric and prose of the human/animal contrast

•Shows how the human/animal contrast works rhetorically in philosophy.•Describes how philosophical discourse arises from the reflexive uses of language.•Demonstrates how philosophical discourse demands oblivion of its own origin.•Dismantles the human/animal contrast through critique of philosophical language.

The opposition in philosophy between humans as thinkers and animals as non-thinkers is often considered to stem from anthropocentrism. In this paper I try to demonstrate that philosophers don't really place “us” at the centre, but rather their own thinking and the philosophical language they develop as thinkers. The human/animal contrast functions rhetorically to communicate that philosophical self-centredness to an audience that recognises itself as “human.” I try to dismantle the contrast between humans and animals by exposing what I see as its true core: forgetfulness of how philosophical language (and thinking in that language) is generated by idealisation and sublimation of the reflexive uses of language.