Agamben and Politics : A Critical Introduction / Sergie Prozorov.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Prozorov, Sergie.

Series:

Thinking politics.

Thinking politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Agamben, Giorgio, 1942-.

Political science--Philosophy.

Agamben, Giorgio, 1942---Criticism and interpretation.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

vii, 200 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh Univ. Press, [2014]

Summary:

A critical introduction to Giorgio Agamben's political thought that highlights its affirmative dimension, Agamben and Politics is among the first book length introductions to the political dimension of the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben. Rapidly becoming one of the most celebrated and controversial contemporary thinkers, Agamben has not merely made an original contribution to 'first-philosophical' debates, but also deployed his ontological insights as a foundation for an innovative mode of political thought. While Agamben's commentators and critics tend to focus on his powerful critique of the Western political tradition in the Homo Sacer series, this narrow focus serves to obscure the overall structure of Agamben's political thought which is neither negative nor critical, but affirmative. This book elucidates this affirmative mood of Agamben's political thought, focusing on the concept of inoperativity which has been central to Agamben's work from the earliest writings onwards. Tracing the operation of the logic of inoperativity in the domains of language, law history and humanity, Agamben and Politics offers both a systematic and accessible introduction to the fundamental concepts of Agamben's political thought and a critical interpretation of his insights in the wider philosophical context. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 All's Well That Ends Well: Agamben's Comic Politics 10

2 The Sabbatical Animal: The Politics of Inoperativity 30

3 Speaking the Unspeakable: Inoperative Language 60

4 How to Play with the Law: Inoperative Statehood 93

5 The Time of the End: Inoperative History 126

6 Outside of Being: Inoperative Humanity 150.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-197) and index.

ISBN:

9780748676217

074867621X

0748676201

9780748676200

OCLC:

861207390