The Lawn; Or on Becoming a Killer

Abstract

Immanence has resurfaced as a topic of theoretical interest, as it is perceived to bear upon many current developments in society and nature. In this paper, I delve further into this concept by examining my personal relations with a lawn. In this telling, lawns are typified by immanence, whether that refers to the growth of vegetation, the prospering of animal life within, or the emerging human capacity to control nonhuman immanences. In particular, I examine my role in the death of a lizard and scrutinize the guidance that immanence, as a concept, provides in ethical dilemmas. Uncertainty about the lizard body and what it can do plays a central role in this consideration. Although immanence can provide only equivocal answers, it retains significance not simply because it designates an essential attribute but also because its material manifestations have a duration that places humans in a disposition of suspended animation.