Dificultades aristotélicas en torno a la definición de ‘vivir’

Abstract

The homonymy of life, which originates multiple logical, epistemological and ontological issues, is dealt with systematically by Aristotle in DA, II, 2-3, where the philosopher employs the notion of unity by succession (toi ephexes) as a logical and semantic criterion with an ontological basis. This criterion allows to keep the unity of the term to a certain extent, avoiding an incorrect representation of the different classes of life and the relation among them. The Aristotelian notion of life is crucial for a non-reductive interpretation of the nutritive life of animals and men, which challenges the emphasis in Agamben’s interpretation of the Aristotelian notion of nutritive life as the historical and systematical basis for biopolitics.