ABSTRACT
The conclusion addresses three remaining sticking points for clarification purposes. First, I examine the oppressive forms of the imaginary of animals. I discuss Berger's “Why Look at Animals?” and show that even poor and manipulative images remain in fact grafted to the meaningful imaginary that belongs to the very being of animals. Second, I tackle the tricky question of animal agency and animal consciousness. At stake is a renewed understanding of viscous agency and imaginative thinking in animals, beyond the conscious-unconscious dichotomy, which also entails significant ethical and political consequences. Eventually, examining the thorny issue of the origin and meaning of the symbol of “the Bull and the Goddess” in the Neolithic period, the conclusion shows that the theory of the imaginary of animals requires the introduction of a circular temporality in the history of species and human symbols.
