Abstract:
In The fundamental concepts of metaphysics, Heidegger outlined an ontology of life that conceives animals and plants as relational totalities composed of capabilities, organic complexity, and environmental relations. The structure of capability is presented as formally determined by the phenomenon of drive (Trieb). This determination gives to capability the character of a dimension in the formal sense. In this paper, I undertake an analysis of the dimensionality of organic capability based on two formal aspects of dimension as such: the traversing from something to something, and the domain of a rule for taking up a multiplicity. These two aspects provide a framework for examining the dimensionality of instinctually driven capability. It is argued that the dimensional character of capabilities implies that the ontology of organic life in general must admit features like non-fixity, plastic development, and relations to the environment and to itself.
Keywords:
Heidegger; Life; Capability; Drive; Dimension; Rule