This book explores the ways in which the spatio-temporal contingency of
human life is being conceived in different fields of research.
Specifically, it looks at the relationship between the situatedness of
human life, the situation or place in which human life is supposed to be
situated, and the dimensions of space and time in which both situation
and place are usually themselves supposed to be situated.
Over the last two or three decades, the spatio-temporal contingency of
human life has become an important topic of research in a broad range of
different disciplines including the social sciences, the cultural
sciences, the cognitive sciences, and philosophy. However, this research
topic is referred to in quite different ways: while some researchers
refer to it in terms of "situation", emphasizing the "situatedness" of
human experience and action, others refer to it in terms of "place",
emphasizing the "power of place" and advocating a "topological" or
"topographical turn" in the context of a larger "spatial turn".
Interdisciplinary exchange is so far hampered by the fact that the
notions referred to and the relationships between them are usually not
sufficiently questioned. This book addresses these issues by bringing
together contributions on the spatio-temporal contingency of human life
from different fields of research.