An Ontology of the Living

We lack an ontology of our living being—in a way a fleshly ontology which can result neither from a merely mental construction nor from an exclusively active shaping or conceptualization. Between the traditional ontology and our traditional way of living sensitivity, something is to be discovered the form of which is both given by the being as living and developed by us, in particular through our relationships with the other living being(s). In that kind of shaping, touch is more important than sight. Touch delimits in the present the relation to oneself and to the other(s) without fixing form(s) which would be suitable once and for all. Touch respects, gives and gives back forms produced by life itself, but it also make them evolve. This does not happen without a certain passivity, an active passivity.