LIFE AND COSMOS IN MICHEL HENRY: AN AFFECTIVE COMMUNITY

Abstract

The objective of this study is to make a proposition about our relationship with the environment, with the earth and the cosmos. The central argument of this study is based on Michel Henry’s phenomenology of life, which proposes an affective relationship with nature. This argument opposes the scientific technical conception that, according to Husserl, forgot the world of life, of sensibility. Henry takes up Husserl’s arguments, however, he presents others such as co-appropriation and shows that our relationship is rooted affectively with the land and not in possession. The phenomenology of life points to a change in our attitudes, especially in our way of relating to the environment. It requires a real ‘leap’, a reversal of our thoughts, beliefs, habits, customs and actions. This is because technological development invites and instigates us to ‘explore’ the earth and forgets that it is an absolute otherness and that it needs to be loved and respected by everyone in its depth.