Against thanatocentrism : Alphonso Lingis and the excess of life

Abstract

This paper focuses on the work of Alphonso Lingis’s critique of thanatocentric thinking, namely the pervasive notion that a proper understanding of life must be framed in relation to death. I argue that Lingis constructs an alternative philosophy of life centered around a threefold system based on the notions of experience, embodiment, and reality. Through an analysis of Lingis’s major works, this article aims to contribute to the evolving field of “Lingisian studies” by highlighting his novel understanding of what it means to be an embodied being in a more-than-human world.