Levels of Organic Life and the Human: An Introduction to Philosophical Anthropol

Description: Levels of Organic Life and the Human by Helmuth Plessner, Millay Hyatt, J.M. Bernstein Estimated delivery 3-12 business days Format Hardcover Condition Brand New Description The most important work by a key figure in German thought, Helmuth Plessners Levels of Organic Life and the Human, originally published in 1928, appears here for the first time in English, accompanied by a substantial Introduction by J. M. Bernstein, after having served for decades as an influence on thinkers as diverse as Merleau-Ponty, Peter Berger, Habermas, and the new naturalists.The Levels, as it has long been known, draws on phenomenological, biological, and social scientific sources as part of a systematic account of nature, life, and human existence. The book considers non-living nature, plants, non-human animals, and human beings in turn as a sequence of increasingly complex modes of boundary dynamics-simply put, interactions between a things insides and surrounding world. On Plessners unique account, living things are classed and analyzed by their "positionality," or orientation to and within an environment. "Life" is thereby phenomenologically defined, and its universal yet internally variable features such as metabolism, reproduction, and death are explained.The approach provides a foundation not only for philosophical biology but philosophical anthropology as well. According to Plessners radical view, the human form of life is excentric-that is, the relation between body and environment is something to which humans themselves are positioned and can take a position. This "excentric positionality" enables human beings to take a stand outside the boundaries of their own body, a possibility with significant implications for knowledge, culture, religion, and technology.Plessner studied zoology and philosophy with Hans Driesch in the 1910s before embarking on a highly productive philosophical career. His work was initially obscured by the superficially similar views of Max Scheler and Martin Heidegger and by his forced exile during World War II. Only in recent decades, as scholarship has moved more squarely into engagement with issues like animality, embodiment, human dignity, social theory, the philosophy of technology, and the philosophy of nature, has the originality and depth of Plessners vision been appreciated.A powerful and sophisticated account of embodiment, the Levels shows, with reference both to science and to philosophy, how life can be seen on its own terms to establish its own boundaries, and how, from the standpoint of life, the human establishes itself in relation to the nonhuman. As such, the book is not merely a historical monument but a source for invigorating a range of vital current conversations around the animal, posthumanism, the material turn, and the biology and sociology of cognition.This modern philosophical classic, long-awaited in English translation, is a key book both historically and for todays interest in understanding philosophy and social theory together with science, without reducing the former to the latter. Author Biography Helmuth Plessner (Author) Helmuth Plessner (1892–1985) was a German philosopher and sociologist. From 1953-59, he was president of the German Sociological Association. Three of his many books have appeared in English, Political Anthropology (Northwestern, 2018), The Limits of Community (Humanity Books, 1999) and Laughing and Crying (Northwestern, 1970).J. M. Bernstein (Introducer) J. M. Bernstein is University Distinguished Professor in Philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York City.Millay Hyatt (Translator) Millay Hyatt is a writer and translator based in Berlin. Her dissertation, "No-Where and Now-Here: Utopia and Politics from Hegel to Deleuze," received the University of Southern Californias doctoral research prize. Details ISBN 0823283992 ISBN-13 9780823283996 Title Levels of Organic Life and the Human Author Helmuth Plessner, Millay Hyatt, J.M. Bernstein Format Hardcover Year 2019 Pages 448 Publisher Fordham University Press GE_Item_ID:140548221; About Us Grand Eagle Retail is the ideal place for all your shopping needs! With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and over 1,000,000 in stock items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! Shipping & Delivery Times Shipping is FREE to any address in USA. Please view eBay estimated delivery times at the top of the listing. Deliveries are made by either USPS or Courier. 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