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By interweaving Hegelian dialectic and the middle voice, this book develops a holistic account of life, nature, and the ethical orientation of human beings with respect to them without falling into the trap of either subjecting human rights to totality or relegating non-human beings and their habitats to instrumentalism.

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Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Life, Mechanism, and Dialectical Logic 2. Life in the Middle Voice 3. The Emergence of Life from Mechanico-Chemical Processes 4. The Biologic of Life 5. An Ecological Ethic 6. From Ontological Determinacy to Natural Contingency 7. The Biologic of Autopoiesis 8. Conclusion References Index

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Wendell Kisner has been teaching for over 20 years and is Assistant Professor for the MA-Integrated Studies and Philosophy Programs at Athabasca University, Canada. His research and instructional interests focus on the texts of Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Levinas, Plato, Deleuze, Badiou, Agamben, Zizek, and Rousseau, and topical areas of interest include ecological thought, philosophy of biology, and political philosophy.

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