434 RüdigerKunow
that biology is always experienced in communicative interaction
betweenselfandother.Becauseofthis,biologyisnotonlyanidiombut
also an issue. As the core of the innermost self but also an intimate
Other, the biological body is more than a form of the given, an
endowment, a possession; it is also, and quite often, a site of troubles.
Beingbothcontainedandporous,thebodycancomplicatethings,punch
holes into humans' sense of self, their plans and desires, but also in the
concepts and practices shared in the public sphere. Furthermore, as
especially the discussions of late or impaired life and of contagious
diseases have shown, the biology of human life marksthe involuntary
dimension of human existence, one that determines, even over-
determines how people can experience "their" bodies (and those of
others).ThisisthereasonwhyIhaveintheprecedingpagesrepeatedly
spokenaboutthebiologicalbodyasafigureofintervention.
In the remaining paragraphs of these reflections, I want to expand,
however provisionally, this idea a bit further. Moments when the
biological make-up of human beings intervenes into their routines and
projects are most of the time moments of crisis, individually and
collectively.Thisiswhybiologyholdssuchaspecialplaceinindividual
as well as collective memory, as for example the cancer experience or
epidemic diseases like yellow fever have shown. In such moments,
when individual or collective well-being are at stake, the private body
can very suddenly attain a very public life—oftentimes against the
wishesofits"owner."Thedynamicsofsuchcrises,someofwhichwere
discussedabove,remindusofafundamentalbutoftenneglected"factof
life": The biology of human life puts into crisis the Enlightenment
conceptoftheautonomous,self-contained,orself-directedindividual.In
matters biological, the individual is an inescapably porous being, never
wholly by him- or herself. Its biology is collective, shared with and by
others, and, as the discussions above of the cultures of blame and
enhancement have shown, such sharing is both inevitable and
controversial. "The interactions that make us sick also constitute us as
community" (Wald, Contagious 2), a not-always-so-imaginary
communityofcommunalbutundesiredrisks.
Biology can thus be seen as a structure in which the "we" of
community reveals itself. It catalyzes projects of collective wish
fulfillment, as the current fascination, not only in the United States but
worldwide, with technologically enhanced bodies shows. But biology