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Document Details :

Title: Heidegger and Hölderlin on Aether and Life
Author(s): BABICH, Babette
Journal: Etudes phénoménologiques - Phenomenological Studies
Volume: 2    Date: 2018   
Pages: 111-133
DOI: 10.2143/EPH.2.0.3254115

Abstract :
This essay reviews Heidegger’s meditation on Hölderlin’s conception of Aether and life, in particular, 'the life of plants', by way of a reading of the 18th and 19th century conceptions of the 'aether', illuminating the complex array of poetic references (Hebel, Hölderlin, Goethe) that also influence 19th and early 20th century physics. This will serve as an exploration of the danger (Gefahr) confronting humanity, in the ethers of today. The essay includes a discussion of Aether as son of Night, and thus as one of the first-born deities, as well as of the Titan, Kronos, and the Olympian, Kronion. It concludes with a reflection on the postmodern Prometheanism of transhumanism.

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