The Epic of Genesis

Catherine Malabou and the gêne of Epigenetics

Bibliographic Data

ID21790478
AuthorsJonathan Basile (0000-0002-9672-4358, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume16
Issue2
Pages99-113
Publication date2023-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDerrida Today (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1754-8519 • E-ISSN: 1754-8500
PublisherEdinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3366/drt.2023.0311
OpenAlexW4387921680
LanguageEN
References cited24

This article examines the conflicting representations of plasticity and epigenetics in the work of philosopher Catherine Malabou and evolutionary theorists Mary Jane West-Eberhard and Eva Jablonka. In order to speak of a new biological ‘paradigm’ and to attribute values of novelty or inventiveness to life itself, Malabou has to suppress the unsettled debates within the life sciences. The aporias of evolutionary narrative and causality reveal a necessary differentiality and textuality that belongs neither to life nor science itself, but leaves a haunting remanence within every corpus. New materialism resists this necessity of life-science, which calls for a deconstructive reading

Art · EPIC · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Materialism · Meaning of life · Narrative · Novelty · Textuality · Theology · Philosophical and Theoretical Analysis · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism

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