Abstract

The chapter gives a critical reading of Hans Jonas' interpretation of the biological concept of metabolism. The question it poses is: What allows Hans Jonas to make what he calls an “existential” interpretation of metabolism? To answer the question, the paper outlines the main features of Jonas’ interpretation of metabolism. Then it turns to a criticism this interpretation has faced for being a “theory of projection”, projecting inwardness from human subject upon natural object. Although this criticism is misguided at some points, it can still make us aware of ambiguities in Jonas’ understanding of encounters with others and the role such encounters play in the interpretation of metabolism. The paper argues that Jonas’ view on concrete encounters and otherness is lacking in The Phenomenon of Life (1966), but that a retrieval of points made in the original, rejected manuscript, Organism and Freedom (2016), can fill some of the gaps. Still, at the end, the author finds it necessary to draw a point from Vetlesen's The Denial of Nature (2015) in order to really justify Jonas' "existential interpretation" of metabolism, because Jonas’ view on encounters is lacking a positive appreciation of the difference of nonhuman others.