the only animal most philosophers have killed with their own two hands

Respect is due to Ingrid Burrington, courtesy of whose Perfect Sentences newsletter I was reminded of this David Graeber classic from The Baffler, whose topic (and, interestingly, some of whose digressions) are serendipitously relevant to an imminent project. I could pick many perfect sentences from this essay, but I’m going to go with a pair that just slightly precede the lines suggested by Burrington’s correspondent: Lobsters have a very bad reputation among philosophers, who frequently hold them out as examples of purely unthinking, unfeeling creatures. Presumably, this is because lobsters are the only animal most philosophers have killed with their own two hands before eating. David Graeber https://thebaffler.com/salvos/whats-the-point-if-we-cant-have-fun “Man, I miss David Graeber all the time,” says Burrington; same here. His admonition to “be kind to your reader” is tacked to the wall just above the upper edge of my main monitor—advice which I’m very sure that I honour far more…