Description

The traditional way of understanding life, as a self-appropriating and self-organizing process of not ceasing to exist, of taking care of one's own hunger, is challenged by today's unprecedented proliferation of discourses and techniques concerning the living being. This challenge entails questioning the fundamental concepts of metaphysical thinking, namely, time, finality, and, above all, being. Garrido argues that today we are in a position to repeat Nietzsche's assertion that there is no other representation of "being" than that of "living." But in order to carry out this deconstruction of ontology, we need to find new ways of asking "What is life?"

In this study, Garrido establishes the basic elements of the question concerning life through readings of Aristotle, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida; through the discussion of scientific breakthroughs in thermodynamics and evolutionary and developmental biology; and through the reexamination of the notion of hunger in both its metaphysical and its political implications.

Features

• The question of "life" is one of the most important philosophical ones at the moment; this book presents a compelling new account of it.
• Garrido is a student of Jean-Luc Nancy, whose books should be familiar from the Fordham list, and whose work is constantly growing in importance.

Product Details

144 pages; 0; 6 x 9; ISBN13: 978-0-8232-3936-8ISBN10: 0-8232-3936-5

About the Author(s)