More-than-human, Less-than-human. Entering the In-between

Abstract

The article reads some assumptions of contemporary New Materialism against the grain, according to which the question of human/humanity should be completely translated back into material-semiotic entanglements – “beyond the self,” “beyond the species,” “beyond theory,” and “beyond death.” On the one hand, the article contrasts them with Bruno Latour's thesis of the current European crisis as a “cascade of engendering troubles” that all revolve around procreation/ reproduction. On the other hand, it confronts them with Luc Boltanki's assertion that the historical situation of today's Europe can be compared to the onto-theological concept of “limbo,” in which fetuses or unbaptized newborns traditionally remain—as a “border zone” between inside and outside. The focus here is on the question of the human being in the sense of an “in-between” or more-or-less-than-human.