Animal Domestication and Human-Animal Difference in Buffon's Histoire Naturelle

Abstract:This paper discusses animal domestication and its relation to the boundary between humans and animals, as theorized in Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle. Despite recognizing that human beings are animals, Buffon rejects any suggestion that these two classes might be equated. On the contrary, there is a profound difference between them, which Buffon states in core passages of the Histoire Naturelle, notably the “Natural History of Man” (1749) and “Of the Nature of Animals” (1753). In these texts, Buffon suggests that humans and animals are distinct in the same manner as spirit is distinct from matter, thus giving the impression of an absolute denial of rationality to animals, much like the Cartesian concept of the animal-machine. However, as my exploration reveals, Buffon’s ideas regarding domestication can help us better understand his distinction, which should be approached less from a metaphysical or theological point of view than from a naturalist one. From this perspective, the profound difference between humans and animals lies in the violence and dominance perpetrated by humans on animals.