CONTRIBUTI / 11 / Daniele Poccia
The Logic of the Embryo. Memory and Rhythm Between the ‘Death of Man’ and the Historicity of Nature
The article aims to develop a specific view of biological memory as an essential rhythmic phenomenon by renewing Foucault’s conception of the death of man, while focusing on the key role that molecular biology plays in framing the human-nature relationship. In particular, the juxtaposition of Raymond Ruyer’s and Giorgio Prodi’s philosophy of life paves the way for the emergence of a ‘logic of the embryo’ that takes into account memory beyond its merely repetitive function. However, coherently approaching a ‘logic of the embryo’ requires one to overcome the limits of a philosophy of nature, and to open up to the sort of ‘dual memory’ that François Ellenberger (1948) has studied in relation to the dream experience. In this connection, such a perspective should concern the field of scientific knowledge organization itself, as much as the role of philosophy, that becomes inseparable from the ever-changing ontology characterizing scientific progress.