Georges CanguilhemThinkers

Life (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a concept too generic and crude to be productive. ''The living,'' differs further from ''life,'' la vie, in that it is mediated, as living, by the specific milieu it experiences.

Life (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a relation not essentially in struggle (which is a mark of the pathological state). A life that affirms itself against the milieu is a life already threatened.

Life (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠healthy life when it is a life not dominated by its milieu, but rather a life confident in its existence, in its values. Such a life is a life of flexion, suppleness, almost softness.

Life (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠irreducible to a crossroads of influences. As such, biology, which is in complete submission to the physico-chemical sciences, proves itself insufficient in grasping it.

Life (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠healthy, confident in its existence, and in its values when it is a life of flexion, suppleness, almost softness.

Life (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not about struggle. The relation between an organism and a milieu does not essentially consist (as one might think) in a struggle, in an opposition. A life that affirms itself against the milieu is a life already threatened.

Life (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠'meaning inscribed in matter.' To say this is to acknowledge the existence of an a priori objective that is inherently material and not merely formal.

Milieu (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the representation of an indefinitely extendible line or plane, at once continuous and homogenous, and with neither definite shape nor privileged position, prevailed over the representation of a sphere or circle, attached to a fixed center of reference -- milieu does not evoke any relation except that of a position endlessly negated by exteriority.

Milieu (n.) is, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in a mechanistic view, the idea that it is the river that makes fishes lead their lives just how they lead it, such that they are persons without personality.

Milieu (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠put in poetic terms, the idea that, following condillac's fable of the statue, 'when the air smells like roses, a statue is rose-scented'.