Pardon to the bull

Abstract

What happens when a bull is pardoned in the arena? The art of bullfighting, according
to Domingo Ortega’s definition, is “a very complex thing.” Forgiveness is also complex:
as Ricoeur argued, if forgiveness is difficult to give and to receive “it is just as difficult to
conceive of”. What does it mean, then, that this “ontologic asymmetry” bullfighting
makes evident can be solved not only through death but also through forgiveness?
Understanding the pardon —the indulto— the bull can be granted is then a venture that
seems to be difficult twice over. Following Pérez Oramas, Bataille, and Kojève, we
want to suggest this pardoning of the bull is a kind of sacrificial action (and, hence, an
“originary” one) in which man recognizes if not his own continuity with the “animal
darkness” Bataille refers to, at least its being-in-the-limit of the border that separates
(and, hence, unites) animality and humanity.