This project proposes a historical and systematic study of German
and French intellectual projects between 1870 and 1940 labelled
'Philosophy of Life,' 'Biological Philosophy,' and 'Philosophical
Anthropology.' The core hypothesis is that they share an alternative
conception of philosophy, called here heterodox naturalism, which (1)
resists reductive naturalisms as well as idealist and analytical
approaches, and (2) seeks to articulate an expansive notion of 'life'
not restricted to that provided by the natural sciences. The project will
clarify how these non-reductive conceptions of life aimed at
rethinking the specificity of human beings as living entities, and were
driven to articulate an alternative approach of knowledge by the
institutional settings of the time. Three dimensions are focused upon:
1) their alternative conception of philosophy, requiring a metaphilosophical
analysis of the positions at stake; 2) their conceptions
of life, as well as their conceptions of human uniqueness to which
these lead, requiring conceptual and terminological analyses; and 3)
the sociological and institutional factors to which they responded,
requiring a sociologically-driven analysis. The project draws upon the
results of an ongoing FWO-project on “Vitalism – A Counter-History
of Biology”, and purports to project, as did the latter one, its results to
our current era, with attention for the place of the humanities in an
academic institution mainly driven by naturalistic concerns.