On Time, Being, and Hunger Challenging the Traditional Way of Thinking Life

by Garrido, Juan Manuel

• ISBN13: 9780823239351
• ISBN10: 0823239357
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-01
• Publisher: Fordham University Press

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Juan Manuel Garrido teaches philosophy at the Universidad Diego Portales in Chile. He did his degree under Jean-Luc Nancy at the Marc Bloch Université, Strasbourg. He is the author of La formation des formes (Paris: Galilée 2008) and Chances de la pensée à partir de Jean-Luc Nancy (Paris: Galilée, 2011)