The Political Ontology of Giorgio Agamben: Signatures of Life and Power (Bloomsbury Studies in Continental Philosophy)

"With the publication of The Use of Bodies (2016) Agamben's multi-volume Homo Sacer project has come to an end, or to paraphrase Agamben, has been abandoned. We now have a new vantage point from which to reread Agamben's corpus; not only his method but his political and philosophical thought can been seen in a clearer light. This timely book both assesses and contributes to the debates on the Homo Sacer project in its entirety. Rethinking the notions of life and power - two of the central themes in Agamben's work - through a reconstruction of his philosophical method and the examination of his critique of Western metaphysics, this book argues that Agamben's thought cannot be fully grasped if we do not account for the intertwining of politics and ontology. This book argues that it is only by revisiting Agamben's critique of signification and metaphysics and examining his reconstruction of the archaeological method that we can understand his notions of life and power. By bringing together the two parts of the Homo Sacer project, the archaeology of the signature of Sovereignty and the archaeology of governmentality, this book provides an analysis of the production of Agambenian 'bare life'. In this sense this project re-articulates Agamben's works on signification, language and ontology with his archaeology of power. Offering an original examination of Agamben's notion of resistance, this is essential reading for any thoughtful consideration of his philosophical legacy."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover Half title Series page Title Copyrights Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: The Work of Giorgio Agamben: Life and Power 1 Paradigms, Signatures and Philosophical Archaeology Capturing the general motivation of the method: On Agamben’s reading of Derrida The idea of the archē : The moment of arising On paradigms: Between singularity and exemplarity Agamben’s theory of signatures 2 Language and Being: The Work of Signatures On the isolation of the improper: A critique of signification The common and the proper: How do signatures work? 3 The Paradox of Sovereignty: Bare Life and Its Paradigms The paradox of sovereignty: Between Benjamin and Schmitt Bare life and its paradigms: On the figure of Homo Sacer 4 The Signature of Power: Economic Theology, Government and Bare Life An archaeology of economic theology: Oikonomia and the fracture between god’s being and his action The providential machine: On the collateral effect as an act of government An archaeology of glory The production of bare life and the governmental machine 5 Neoliberalism, Governmentality and Sovereignty: The Lessons of The Kingdom and the Glory Agamben and Foucault: Two genealogies of governmentality Neoliberalism: Rearticulating sovereignty and governance 6 The Signature of Life: The Meaning of Bio-politics The enigma of bio-politics: From Foucault to Agamben The signature of life and the bio-political machine 7 The Politics of Inoperativity: Suspending the Signatures of Life and Power Potentiality and modal ontology Form-of-life and destituent power: On the politics of inoperativity On the workless slave as a paradigm of inoperativity Conclusions Notes Bibliography Index "With the publication of The Use of Bodies (2016) Agamben's multi-volume Homo Sacer project has come to an end, or to paraphrase Agamben, has been abandoned. We now have a new vantage point from which to reread Agamben's corpus; not only his method but his political and philosophical thought can been seen in a clearer light. This timely book both assesses and contributes to the debates on the Homo Sacer project in its entirety. Rethinking the notions of life and power - two of the central themes in Agamben's work - through a reconstruction of his philosophical method and the examination of his critique of Western metaphysics, this book argues that Agamben's thought cannot be fully grasped if we do not account for the intertwining of politics and ontology. This book argues that it is only by revisiting Agamben's critique of signification and metaphysics and examining his reconstruction of the archaeological method that we can understand his notions of life and power. By bringing together the two parts of the Homo Sacer project, the archaeology of the signature of Sovereignty and the archaeology of governmentality, this book provides an analysis of the production of Agambenian 'bare life'. In this sense this project re-articulates Agamben's works on signification, language and ontology with his archaeology of power. Offering an original examination of Agamben's notion of resistance, this is essential reading for any thoughtful consideration of his philosophical legacy"-- Provided by publisher With the publication of The Use of Bodies (2016), Agamben's multi-volume Homo Sacer project has come to an end, or to paraphrase Agamben, has been abandoned. We now have a new vantage point from which to reread Agamben's corpus; not only his method but his political and philosophical thought can been seen in a clearer light. This timely book both assesses and contributes to the debates on the Homo Sacer project in its entirety. Rethinking the notions of life and power – two of the central themes in Agamben's work – through a reconstruction of his philosophical method and an examination of his critique of Western metaphysics, this book argues that Agamben's thought cannot be fully grasped if we do not account for the intertwining of politics and ontology. This book argues that it is only by revisiting Agamben's critique of signification and metaphysics and examining his reconstruction of the archaeological method that we can understand his notions of life and power. By bringing together the two parts of the Homo Sacer project – the archaeology of the signature of Sovereignty and the archaeology of governmentality – this book provides an analysis of the production of Agambenian 'bare life'. In this sense this project re-articulates Agamben's works on signification, language and ontology with his archaeology of power. Offering an original examination of Agamben's notion of resistance, this is essential reading for any thoughtful consideration of his philosophical legacy.