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Xenosemiotica. Note sull’alterità biologica

in Versus n. 135, Biosemiotica e antropocene / Biosemiotics and Anthropocene, pp.231-246

Abstract (italiano)

The article starts from xenobiology, understood as a discipline that carries a speculative point of view on life. Xenobiology is described in its double meaning as a branch of synthetic biology (aimed at the manufacture of xenoforms of life) and as a branch of astrobiology (aimed at encountering alien life). After outlining the concept of speculation as a generative opening of knowledge, the terms of a speculative biosemiotics will be defined on the model of the Simondonian theory of individuation. The scheme that will emerge, will be placed at the center of a non-anthropocentric, non-biocentric “xenosemioticµ oriented towards sense-making processes. In conclusion, we will look at the implications of the xenosemiotic paradigm for the horizon of the anthropocene era.