Biopolítica y vida inorgánica: la plasmogenia de Alfonso Herrera

This article examines the political and philosophical implications of plasmogenia, the theory of the origin of life developed by Mexican biologist Alfonso Herrera during the initial decades of the twentieth century. Focusing on Herrera's theoretical reflection on life and his institutional initiatives throughout the revolutionary and years, the article argues that there is a structuring contradiction between the biopolitical utopia concerning the creation of a perfect man and the conception of life as an inorganic and constant becoming. In a paradoxical way, Herrera's notion of vida universal tends to deterritorialize his own project of artificially manufacturing a superman in the laboratory. This essay shows that plasmogenia not only played an unforeseen role during the process of state formation after the Mexican Revolution, but it also continues to intervene decisively in current debates about biopolitics and the philosophy of life.