在技术时代思考诞生的意义——《犹如流光:诞生,死亡》述评

Natality in the Age of Technology:A Review of Comme une clartéfurtive.Natre,mourir

当代技术在帮助人类对抗与生俱来的脆弱性方面取得了巨大成功,与此同时也引发了我们对生死和代际传承等基本问题的再思考。在其新著《犹如流光:诞生,死亡》中,法国著名哲学家卡特琳娜·夏利耶接续海德格尔和列维纳斯关于时间、死亡和有限性问题的探究,透过哲学与文学,对诞生的意义展开了深入讨论。此书提醒人们:对生命的理解不仅可以从死亡这一备受现代哲学关注的角度,也应从生命开端、亦即婴儿诞生的角度进行探索;如此,人不仅是“有死者”,更是生命之链上的一环,拥有在政治行动和道德生活中开端启新的潜能。

Contemporary technological advances have achieved remarkable success in helping humanity combat its inherent vulnerabilities.However,they have also prompted us to rethink fundamental issues related to life,such as natality and death.In her new book,Comme une clartéfurtive.Na?tre,mourir,French philosopher Catherine Chalier extends the exploration of time,death,and the finitude of life initiated by Heidegger and Levinas.Chalier's book illuminates that our understanding of life should not be limited to the perspective of death—an area that has dominated modern philosophical inquiry—but should also consider the beginning of life,such as the birth of a baby.This approach reveals that a person is not merely a“mortal being”but also a crucial link in the chain of life,endowed with the potential to initiate new beginnings in political and moral affairs.