Date: 1st July 2022
Presenter: Primož Vidovič
Chapter: VII. The Sphere of the Human (first half, 267-287) Continue reading Epoché VI, Ep. 13: Levels of Organic Life and the Human, Chapter VIIa (Plessner)
Date: 3rd June 2022
Presenter: Phillip Hohenberger
Chapter: VI. The Sphere of the Animal (first half, 219-242) Continue reading Epoché VI, Ep. 11: Levels of Organic Life and the Human, Chapter VIa (Plessner)
The redeeming word of our age, the only thing “to be grasped on this side of all ideologies, on this side of God and the state, of nature and history; something from which ideologies may arise, but that with equal certainty also devours them again”: life (Plessner 2019, 1). What is it, how do we recognise it, and how does it work? We find ourselves in a world of things and objects, and strive to make sense of them. Based on their similarities, we group them into genera, and based on their differences, we look for the specific features which set them apart from their neighbours. Why do we do this, more or less explicitly? To survive, to sate our nagging curiosity, because we cannot help ourselves? Continue reading Between Boundaries: Defining Life in Autopoietic Theory and Plessner
The human,” Helmuth Plessner tells us, “lives only insofar as he leads a life”. Our way of life does not seem to be given in our nature, in the routines and instincts of animal existence. There is no obvious pathway or blueprint for us to adopt, though we have tried to invent many. There is no answer, but a continuous question hanging over our heads that shakes our foundations even as we work to establish them. Continue reading Plessner’s Theory of the Excentric Positionality of Humans
