Abstract
20th century hermeneutics has served as a theoretical basis for many biological conceptions which seek to part from the Cartesian notion of animated nature once and for all. However, I intend to show in this article that theoretical biology cannot extricate itself in this way from the subject-object split and that it is, therefore, not a sufficiently convincing alternative to Cartesianism.
I will retain the metaphor of art and I will also introduce in addition to Gadamer's description the interpretation given by J.-L. Nancy which deals with the experience of modern dance.