Thinking Life

Abstract

This second introductory chapter establishes the conceptual framework used in the book. This focuses on the topic of ‘life’ as it recurs in Kofman’s readings of ancient thought, and the ways it can be usefully contradistinguished from ‘being’ and ‘nature’ as objects of philosophical inquiry. Having given an overview of various readings of life, we look closely at romanticism and biopolitics insofar as they frame our readings of Kofman. Over the course of the chapter, issues discussed later in the book arise, from the valuing of life in the context of the Holocaust to Stoicism with its appeal to nature.