My article deals with the contribute of Frankfurt critical theory to the philosophical consideration of some topics from the sciences of life. It proceeds in four steps. First, it presents Theodor Adorno’s thesis that modern biology, from Darwin to Mendel, becomes the organon of a new ontology of life, the latter conceived as survival. Second, I stress the social-historical relevance of darwinism from the Frankfurt perspective, while examining the notion of “economy of nature”. Third, I discuss the natural-historical relevance of darwinism, faced with Benjamin’s and Adorno’s pattern of Naturgeschichte. Finally, the man-life connection is discussed, in terms of the tragedy of life beings – its common dependence on caducity and suffering.
Keywords: Adorno, Darwin, Naturgeschichte, economy of nature, struggle for existence
