Abstract EN:

It seems not to be possible to understand the human body without a proper determination of its food, because the human being is not only as Heidegger says, "world-constructing", but also "constructing himself". The human beeing builts its body as a center of power that might make possibilities true. The "poetical" relation to the world is also a "practical" relation to itself. Body and food are therefore neither natural, nor mere instruments, but are "non-utilitary artefacts". Food cannot be defined in only rational or quantitative terms, because it is constructed in an "imaginary synthesis" in which ist measurement, its sensible qualities, its value and its power are determined altogether. The body is the historical construction of a manifest power from which possibilities can be projected and realised. This is the reason why the construction of the body cannot be abandonned to a nature that is not responsible, because the possibilities to which it is opened have always a collective, cultural and historical meaning. There is no political community without a community of production and share of food. Thinking what food is implies to think about the responsability of a community of bodies; so food appears as beeing an "ethical thing", which is a specific human reality that cannot be reduced to animal food.