Plasticity holds original form and full self-transformation together

Evidence

What is fascinating about stem cells is that they bring together the origin, as their name indicates, and the future, the capacity for self re-form. Is this not the best possible definition of plasticity: the relation that an individual entertains with what, on the one hand, attaches him originally to himself, to his proper form, and with what, on the other hand, allows him to launch himself into the void of all identity, to abandon all rigid and fixed determination? — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 259

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concrete stem-cell image for plasticity’s two poles — origin and self-re-formation — useful for the reader’s precise definition.
• XREF: connects to: The modern moment is defined by three determinations of plasticity — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 649; Plasticity is the self-energizing medium where form and content share one law. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1252; A closed system’s openness to modification while transforming itself is plasticity — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1283 (+3 more)