On the death we give. Materialism, humanism, violence and guilt

Abstract

This work deals with the problem of death from a theoretical perspective at the intersection between philosophy, psychoanalysis and social sciences and gives the body and emotions a leading role. First, we place the topic of finitude as it was traditionally approached in philosophy, as a learning of one's own death. Then, starting with Nietzsche and Freud, we illuminated a previously suppressed aspect, which only comes to light when the thought of the body occupies a privileged place: not that of our being-mortals, but that of our being-lethals. From this contribution that changes the perspective, we highlight the inseparable nature of life and crime in our day, emphasizing violence linked to orality and self-preservation (in particular: feeding and defense), which constitutes the zero degree of our aggressiveness. We connect this knowledge about our criminality with an explanation about the feeling of guilt that mystifies some posthumanist promises, and we conclude affirming that the difficulty to elaborate the necessary aggressiveness is found in the foundation of a moral that legitimates and contributes to perpetuate repression and exploitation of the bodies.