Dear Seminar 3 respondents,
Excited to meet you all and wondering if people have started putting together possible responses to the readings...
If we are able to go in a direction of our choosing, I am planning to reflect on Canguilhem’s discussion of “biological thought” that is more “than just a stage in biology’s development” (60). It seems to me that Canguilhem's vitalism is an opportunity to consider biology and biological existence without being confined to biology’s modern purview, without being annexed by “the science of matter” (60). My plan is to reflect on the implications of this idea by thinking the biological beyond the "biocentric" as scholars like Elizabeth Povinelli and Sylvia Wynter might put it. Canguilhem’s use of the language of empire and imperialism on page 70 is also very intriguing to me as it is exactly the kind of language being used more thoroughly by Povinelli and Wynter.
Dr. Wolfe, if you'd like us to focus on something specific, then please disregard the above.
See you all in a week!
