Animals and the Lacanimal

This chapter deepens the path opened by Lacan when he enlisted, as one of the main consequences of the mirror stage, the disjoint in the human from any ‘animal nature.’ To do this, ideas taken from Lacan’s seminars are brought into discussion. From Seminar 1, a criticism of the assumptions and conclusions of the ‘mirror test’ made by zoologists on some animal species is presented. From Seminar 10 is constructed a distinction of deceits to inquire what kind of deceit is only proper to human subjectivity. From Seminar 20, another criticism made at behavioral sciences establishes the limits on human observation of animal nature. In addition to examples on animals, a discussion on a film whose characters are all animals permits us to discern the limits between animals and the homonization-of-animals.