The throwing hand. An essay on human subjectivity

Abstract

Taking its cue from Heidegger two questions are addressed in the article: a) How did human beings uno actu, i.e. by throwing, distance themselves from what in return became their world and come into being as humans? and b) How did this point of departure set off history? A response to these questions is found in a paleoanthropologically informed approach. In regard to the first question a connection between projectile technology and vertical position is presented and summed up in a non-substantialistic concept of self-preservation. In regard to the second question this concept of self-preservation is then elaborated in terms of Paul Alsberg's "principle of exclusion of the body" as the principle governing the ongoing becoming of man. The article aims to present the hand, and especially the throwing hand, as a fruitful paradigm when interpreting the conditio humana.