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.
