Format:
1 Online-Ressource (xxiii, 383 pages)
ISBN:
9781501749971
Series Statement:
Signale: Modern German Letters, Cultures, and Thought
Content:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I. Life as Formation -- Part II. The Conflict of Forms -- Part III. Deformation -- Epilogue -- Index
Content:
In Forms of Life, Andreas Gailus argues that the neglect of aesthetics in most contemporary theories of biopolitics has resulted in an overly restricted conception of life. He insists we need a more flexible notion of life: one attuned to the interplay and conflict between its many dimensions and forms. Forms of Life develops such a notion through the meticulous study of works by Kant, Goethe, Kleist, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Benn, Musil, and others.Gailus shows that the modern conception of "life" as a generative, organizing force internal to living beings emerged in the last decades of the eighteenth century in biological thought. At the core of this vitalist strand of thought, Gailus maintains, lies a persistent emphasis on the dynamics of formation and deformation, and thus on an intrinsically aesthetic dimension of life.Forms of Life brings this older discourse into critical conversation with contemporary discussions of biopolitics and vitalism, while also developing a rich conception of life that highlights, rather than suppressing, its protean character. Gailus demonstrates that life unfolds in the open-ended interweaving of the myriad forms and modalities of biological, ethical, political, psychical, aesthetic, and biographical systems
Note:
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
,
In English
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781501749803
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781501749810
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als Druck-Ausgabe Gailus, Andreas, 1960 - Forms of life Ithaca : Cornell University Press and Cornell University Library, 2020 ISBN 9781501749803
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781501749810
Language:
English
Keywords:
Deutsch
;
Literatur
;
Vitalismus
;
Biopolitik
;
Geschichte
DOI:
10.1515/9781501749971
Author information:
Gailus, Andreas 1960-
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