Through the Scope of Life

This book offers intriguing philosophical inquiries into biotechnological art and the life sciences, addressing their convergences as well as their epistemic and functional divergences. Rooted on a thorough understanding of the history of philosophy, this work builds on critical and ontological thought to interpret the concept of life that underscores first-hand dealings with matter and experimentation. The book breaks new ground on the issue of animality and delivers fresh posthumanist perspectives on the topics addressed. The authors embark on a deep ontological probe of the concept of medium as communication-bridging and life-bearing. They also take on the concept of performativity as biotechnological art.

The book includes concrete, well-documented case studies and shows how certain narratives and practices directly impact ideas surrounding science and technologies. It will interest philosophers in art and technology, aesthetics, ontology, and the life sciences. It will also engage art practitioners in art and science, curators and researchers.

Polona Tratnik, PhD in Philosophy, full Professor, is the Dean of the Faculty for Slovenian and International Studies of New University in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is scientific councilor, the leader of the research project Social Functions of Fairy-Tales. She used to be the leader of the national research program Research of Cultural Formations, the Dean of Alma Mater Europaea - Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis, Faculty for Postgraduate Studies (2016-2019), Head of the Department for Cultural Studies of the Faculty for Humanities of the University of Primorska. In 2012 she was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California Santa Cruz. She was a guest Professor at University of California Santa Cruz, as well as at Capital Normal University in Bejing, China, at Helsinki TAIK, Finland, and at National Autonomous University of Mexico. She teaches at University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts and at Academy of Fine Arts and Design, at University of Maribor, Faculty of Education, at Faculty for Design, associate member of the University of Primorska. She is the president of Slovenian Society of Aesthetics (since 2011) and executive committee member of the International Association of Aesthetics.