Abstract

Antimechanism and Neovitalism. A report on the international conference Antimechanism and Neovitalism, Modena, October 9-10, 2019 This paper presents the conference Antimechanism and Neovitalism that took place in Modena on the 9th and 10th of October 2019, organized by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The conference aims to provide a wide perspective on the fundamental theme of the definition of living subject, its functions and its limits. This topic is crucial not only for sciences, such as biology and physiology, but also for humanities, in particular philosophy. Thanks to different contributors – that covers the evolution of the theme between XIX and XX century – the discussion achieves two important results: the idea that some definitions, such as those of Mechanism and Vitalism, are too strict and limit the full understanding of the living; the idea that a common language must be found to encourage communication between different fields of thought.