Leaving a Trace in the World (II): Deconstruction and the History of Life

Senatore, Mauro

Abstract

This article tests the hypothesis that the history of life can be told only by assuming the ultra-transcendental conception of life as leaving a trace in the world. It draws together two moments in the work of Jacques Derrida that are chronologically distant and yet develop that hypothesis and its consequences: the deconstruction of the phenomenological concept of consciousness, and the deconstruction of the Cartesian narrative of life. The article demonstrates that the first moment allows us to elaborate the ultra-transcendental conception of life presupposed by phenomenological consciousness, which offers new ways to analyze biological questions of the origin and evolution of life, and ethico-political questions of responsibility.

Citation

Senatore, M. (2019). Leaving a Trace in the World (II): Deconstruction and the History of Life. Postmodern Culture, 28(3), https://doi.org/10.1353/pmc.2018.0024

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Publication Date: Mar 27, 2019
• Deposit Date: Oct 17, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: May 21, 2019
• Journal: Postmodern Culture
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/pmc.2018.0024