Giorgio Agamben
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Giorgio Agamben ( , ; born 22 April 1942) is an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
best known for his work investigating the concepts of the
state of exception A state of exception (german: Ausnahmezustand) is a concept introduced in the 1920s by the German philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, similar to a state of emergency (martial law) but based in the sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law ...
, form-of-life (borrowed from
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...
) and '' homo sacer''. The concept of
biopolitics Biopolitics refers to the political relations between the administration or regulation of the life of species and a locality's populations, where politics and law evaluate life based on perceived constants and traits. French philosopher Michel F ...
(carried forth from the work of
Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
) informs many of his writings.


Biography

Agamben was educated at the University of Rome, where in 1965 he wrote an unpublished
laurea In Italy, the ''laurea'' is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremony ...
thesis on the political thought of
Simone Weil Simone Adolphine Weil ( , ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Over 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work, since 1995. ...
. Agamben participated in
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
's
Le Thor Le Thor (; oc, Lo Tòr) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It has an attractive Romanesque church, Notre-Dame-du-Lac. Population Notable residents *Alexey Brodovitch (1 ...
seminars (on
Heraclitus Heraclitus of Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἡράκλειτος , "Glory of Hera"; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote ...
and
Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
) in 1966 and 1968. In the 1970s, he worked primarily on linguistics, philology, poetics, and topics in medieval culture. During this period, Agamben began to elaborate his primary concerns, although their political bearings were not yet made explicit. In 1974–1975 he was a fellow at the
Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cros ...
,
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, due to the courtesy of
Frances Yates Dame Frances Amelia Yates (28 November 1899 – 29 September 1981) was an English historian of the Renaissance, who wrote books on esoteric history. After attaining an MA in French at University College London, she began to publish her resear ...
, whom he met through
Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...
. During this fellowship, Agamben began to develop his second book, ''Stanzas'' (1977). Agamben was close to the poets Giorgio Caproni and
José Bergamín José Bergamín Gutiérrez (Madrid, 1895 – Hondarribia, 28 August 1983) was a Spanish writer, essayist, poet, and playwright. His father served as president of the canton of Málaga; his mother was a Catholic. Bergamín was influenced by bot ...
, and to the Italian novelist
Elsa Morante Elsa Morante (; 18 August 191225 November 1985) was an Italian novelist, poet, translator and children's books author. Her novel '' La storia'' (''History'') is included in the Bokklubben World Library List of 100 Best Books of All Time. Life a ...
, to whom he devoted the essays "The Celebration of the Hidden Treasure" (in ''The End of the Poem'') and "Parody" (in ''Profanations''). He has been a friend and collaborator to such eminent intellectuals as
Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...
(in whose '' The Gospel According to St. Matthew'' he played the part of
Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
),
Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...
(with whom he collaborated, for a short while, as advisor to the publishing house
Einaudi Einaudi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), Italian politician *Mario Einaudi (1905–1994), Italian political scientist, son of Luigi *Giulio Einaudi (1912–1999), Italian publisher, son o ...
and developed plans for a journal),
Ingeborg Bachmann Ingeborg Bachmann (25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author. Biography Bachmann was born in Klagenfurt, in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the daughter of Olga (née Haas) and Matthias Bachmann, a schoolteacher. Her fa ...
,
Pierre Klossowski Pierre Klossowski (; ; 9 August 1905 – 12 August 2001) was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists Erich Klossowski and Baladine Klossowska, and his younger brother was the painter Balthus. Life Born in Par ...
,
Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationis ...
,
Jean-Luc Nancy Jean-Luc Nancy ( , ; 26 July 1940 – 23 August 2021) was a French philosopher. Nancy's first book, published in 1973, was ''Le titre de la lettre'' (''The Title of the Letter'', 1992), a reading of the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Laca ...
,
Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida; See also . 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in numerous texts, and which was developed t ...
,
Antonio Negri Antonio "Toni" Negri (born 1 August 1933) is an Italian Spinozistic-Marxist sociologist and political philosopher, best known for his co-authorship of ''Empire'' and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political p ...
,
Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard (; ; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and ...
and many, many others. His strongest influences include
Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
,
Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mys ...
and
Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
. Agamben edited Benjamin's collected works in Italian translation until 1996, and called Benjamin's thought "the antidote that allowed me to survive Heidegger". In 1981, Agamben discovered several important lost manuscripts by Benjamin in the archives of the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...
. Benjamin had left these manuscripts to
Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...
when he fled Paris shortly before his death. The most relevant of these to Agamben's own later work were Benjamin's manuscripts for his theses ''On the Concept of History''. Agamben has engaged since the nineties in a debate with the political writings of the German jurist
Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as ...
, most extensively in the study ''State of Exception'' (2003). His recent writings also elaborate on the concepts of Michel Foucault, whom he calls "a scholar from whom I have learned a great deal in recent years". Agamben's political thought was founded on his readings of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
's ''Politics'', ''Nicomachean Ethics'', and treatise ''On the Soul'', as well as the exegetical traditions concerning these texts in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. In his later work, Agamben intervenes in the theoretical debates following the publication of Nancy's essay ''La communauté désoeuvrée'' (1983), and
Maurice Blanchot Maurice Blanchot (; ; 22 September 1907 – 20 February 2003) was a French writer, philosopher and literary theorist. His work, exploring a philosophy of death alongside poetic theories of meaning and sense, bore significant influence on pos ...
's response, ''La communauté inavouable'' (1983). These texts analyzed the notion of
community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
at a time when the
European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
was under debate. Agamben proposed his own model of a community which would not presuppose categories of identity in ''The Coming Community'' (1990). At this time, Agamben also analyzed the ontological condition and "political" attitude of
Bartleby "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" is a short story by the American writer Herman Melville, first serialized anonymously in two parts in the November and December 1853 issues of '' Putnam's Magazine'' and reprinted with minor tex ...
(from
Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...
's short story) – a ''scrivener'' who does not react, and "prefers not" to write. Currently, Agamben is teaching at
Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio The Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio (AAM) is a Swiss school of architecture and is a founding unit of Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). History The Accademia was founded by Mario Botta, whose influences were Kenneth Frampton, ...
( Università della Svizzera Italiana) and has taught at the
Università IUAV di Venezia Iuav University of Venice ( it, Università Iuav di Venezia) is a university in Venice, Italy. It was founded in 1926 as the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia as one of the first Architecture schools in Italy. The university curren ...
, the
Collège International de Philosophie The Collège international de philosophie (Ciph), located in Paris' 5th arrondissement, is a tertiary education institute placed under the trusteeship of the French government department of research and chartered under the French 1901 Law on associ ...
in Paris, and the
European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, P ...
in
Saas-Fee Saas-Fee () is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. The village is situated on a high mountain plateau at 1,800 meters (5,900 feet), surrounded ...
, Switzerland; he previously taught at the
University of Macerata The University of Macerata ( it, Università degli Studi di Macerata) is a public university located in Macerata, Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe that are still functioning.https://thefunkonme.com/top-10-oldest-universities ...
and at the
University of Verona The University of Verona ( it, Università degli Studi di Verona) is a university located in Verona, Italy. It was founded in 1982 and is organized in 12 Departments. According to business newspaper ''Il Sole 24 Ore'', it is ranked as the best no ...
, both in Italy. He also has held visiting appointments at several American universities, from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, to
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
, and at
Heinrich Heine University Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...
, Düsseldorf. Agamben received the Prix Européen de l'Essai Charles Veillon in 2006. In 2013 he was awarded the
Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...
by the
University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
for his work titled ''Leviathans Rätsel'' (Leviathan's Riddle, translated into English by Paul Silas Peterson).


Work

Much of Agamben's work since the 1980s can be viewed as leading up to the so-called ''Homo Sacer'' project, which properly begins with the book ''Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life''. In this series of works, Agamben responds to Hannah Arendt's and Foucault's studies of totalitarianism and biopolitics. Since 1995 he has been best known for this ongoing project, the volumes of which have been published out of order, and which include: * ''Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life'' (1995) * ''State of Exception''. Homo Sacer II, 1 (2003) * ''Stasis: Civil War as a Political Paradigm''. Homo Sacer II, 2 (2015) * ''The Sacrament of Language: An Archaeology of the Oath''. Homo Sacer II, 3 (2008)''The Omnibus Homo Sacer''
- Stanford University Press
* ''The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government''. Homo Sacer II, 4 (2007) * ''Opus Dei: An Archeology of Duty''. Homo Sacer II, 5 (2013) * ''Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive''. Homo Sacer III (1998). * ''The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Forms-of-Life''. Homo Sacer IV, 1 (2013) * ''The Use of Bodies''. Homo Sacer IV, 2 (2016) As of 2017, these works have been collected and published as ''The Omnibus: Homo Sacer'' (2017) In the final volume of the series, Agamben intends to address "the concepts of forms-of-life and lifestyles." "What I call a form-of-life," he explains, "is a life which can never be separated from its form, a life in which it is never possible to separate something like bare life. re too the concept of privacy comes in to play." The reduction of life to 'biopolitics' is one of the main threads in Agamben's work, in his critical conception of a ''homo sacer'', reduced to 'bare life', and thus deprived of any rights. Agamben's concept of the ''homo sacer'' rests on a crucial distinction in Greek between "bare life" (''la vita nuda'' or ''zoê'' ; Gk. ζωή ''zoê'') and "a particular mode of life" or "qualified life" (''bios'' , ; Gk. βίος ''bios''). In Part III, section 7 of ''Homo Sacer'', "The Camp as the 'Nomos' of the Modern", he evokes the
concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
of World War II. "The camp is the space that is opened when the state of exception begins to become the rule." Agamben says that "What happened in the camps so exceeds (is outside of) the juridical concept of crime that the specific juridico-political structure in which those events took place is often simply omitted from consideration." The conditions in the camps were "''conditio inhumana''," and the incarcerated somehow defined outside the boundaries of humanity, under the exception laws of '' Schutzhaft''. Where law is based on vague, unspecific concepts such as "race" or "good morals," law and the personal subjectivity of the judicial agent are no longer distinct. In the process of creating a state of exception these effects can compound. In a realized state of exception, one who has been accused of committing a crime, within the legal system, loses the ability to use his/her voice and represent themselves. The individual can not only be deprived of their citizenship, but also of any form of agency over their own life. "Agamben identifies the state of exception with the power of decision over life." Within the state of exception, the distinction between ''bios'' (the life of the citizen) and ''zoê'' (the life of ''homo sacer'') is made by those with judicial power. For example, Agamben would argue that Guantánamo Bay exemplifies the concept of 'the state of exception' in the United States following 9–11. Agamben mentions that basic universal
human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
of Taliban individuals while captured in Afghanistan and sent to Guantánamo Bay in 2001 were negated by US laws. In reaction to the removal of their basic human rights, detainees of Guantánamo Bay prison went on
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
s. Within a state of exception, when a detainee is placed outside the law he is, according to Agamben, reduced to "bare life" in the eyes of the judicial powers. Here, one can see why such measures as hunger strikes can occur in such places as prisons. Within the framework of a system that has deprived the individual of power, and their individual basic human freedoms, the hunger strike can be seen as a weapon or form of resistance. "The body is a model which can stand for any bounded system. Its boundaries can represent any boundaries which are threatened or precarious." Within a state of exception the boundaries of power are precarious and threaten to destabilize not only the law, but one's humanity, as well as their choice of life or death. Forms of resistance to the extended use of power within the state of exception, as suggested in Guantánamo Bay prison, also operate outside the law. In the case of the hunger strike, the prisoners were threatened and endured force feeding not allowing them to die. During the
hunger strikes A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
at Guantánamo Bay prison, accusations and founded claims of forced feedings began to surface in the autumn of 2005. In February 2006, ''The New York Times'' reported that prisoners were being force fed in Guantánamo Bay prison and in March 2006, more than 250 medical experts, as reported by the BBC, voiced their opinions of the forced feedings stating that this was a breach of the government's power and was against the rights of the prisoners.


''The Coming Community'' (1993)

In ''The Coming Community'', published in 1990 and translated by longtime admirer
Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as domin ...
in 1993, Agamben describes the social and political manifestation of his philosophical thought. Employing diverse short essays he describes the nature of "whatever singularity" as that which has an "inessential commonality, a solidarity that in no way concerns an essence". It is important to note his understanding of "whatever" not as being indifference but based on the Latin "quodlibet ens" translated as "being such that it always matters". Agamben starts off by describing ''"The Lovable"'' In the same sense, Agamben talks about "ease" as the "place" of love, or "rather love as the experience of taking-place in a whatever singularity", which resonates his use of the concept "use" in the later works. Following the same trend, he employs, among others, the following to describe the "watershed of whatever": *Example – particular and universal *Limbo – blessed and damned *Homonym – concept and idea *Halo – potentiality and actuality *Face – common and proper, genus and individual *Threshold – inside and outside *Coming community – state and non-state (humanity)''The Coming Community'' (1993) Other themes addressed in ''The Coming Community'' include the commodification of the body, evil, and the messianic. Unlike other continental philosophers he does not reject the dichotomies of subject/object and potentiality/actuality outright, but rather turns them inside-out, pointing out the zone where they become indistinguishable. The political task of humanity, he argues, is to expose the innate potential in this zone of indistinguishability. And although criticised as dreaming the impossible by certain authors, he nonetheless shows a concrete example of ''whatever singularity'' acting politically:


''Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life'' (1995)

In his main work ''"Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life"'' (1998), Agamben analyzes an obscure figure of
Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
that poses fundamental questions about the nature of law and
power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...
in general. Under the laws of the Roman Empire, a man who committed a certain kind of crime was banned from society and all of his rights as a citizen were revoked. He thus became a ''" homo sacer"'' (sacred man). In consequence, he could be killed by anybody, while his life on the other hand was deemed "sacred", so he could not be sacrificed in a ritual ceremony. Although Roman law no longer applied to someone deemed a ''Homo sacer'', they remained "under the spell" of law. Agamben explains the latter idea as "human life… included in the juridical order solely in the form of its exclusion (that is, of its capacity to be killed)". ''Homo sacer'' was therefore ''excluded'' from law itself, while being ''included'' at the same time. This figure is the exact mirror image of the
sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
(''
basileus ''Basileus'' ( el, ) is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. In the English-speaking world it is perhaps most widely understood to mean "monarch", referring to either a "king" or an "emperor" and al ...
'') – a king, emperor, or president – who stands, on the one hand, ''within'' law (so he can be condemned, e.g., for treason, as a natural person) and ''outside'' the law (since as a
body politic The body politic is a polity—such as a city, realm, or state—considered metaphorically as a physical body. Historically, the sovereign is typically portrayed as the body's head, and the analogy may also be extended to other anatomical par ...
he has power to suspend law for an indefinite time). Giorgio Agamben draws on
Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as ...
's definition of the Sovereign as the one who has the power to decide the ''
state of exception A state of exception (german: Ausnahmezustand) is a concept introduced in the 1920s by the German philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, similar to a state of emergency (martial law) but based in the sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law ...
'' (or ''
justitium ''Justitium'' (derived from the Latin term ''Juris statio'') is a concept of Roman law, equivalent to the declaration of the state of emergency. Some scholars also refer to it as a state of exception, stemming from a state of necessity. It inv ...
''), where law is indefinitely "suspended" without being abrogated. But if Schmitt's aim is to include the necessity of state of emergency under the rule of law, Agamben on the contrary demonstrates that all life cannot be subsumed by law. As in ''Homo sacer'', the state of emergency is the inclusion of life and necessity in the juridical order solely in the form of its exclusion. Agamben opines that laws have always assumed the authority to define "bare life" – ''zoe'', as opposed to ''bios'', that is 'qualified life' – by making this exclusive operation, while at the same time gaining power over it by making it the subject of political control. The power of law to actively separate "political" beings (citizens) from "bare life" (bodies) has carried on from Antiquity to
Modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the " ...
– from, literally,
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
to
Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. Aristotle, as Agamben notes, constitutes political life via a simultaneous inclusion and exclusion of "bare life": as Aristotle says, man is an animal born to life (Gk. ζῆν, ''zen''), but existing with regard to the good life (εὖ ζῆν, ''eu zen'') which can be achieved through politics. Bare life, in this ancient conception of politics, is that which must be transformed, via the State, into the "good life"; that is, bare life is that which is supposedly excluded from the higher aims of the state, yet is included precisely so that it may be transformed into this "good life". Sovereignty, then, is conceived from ancient times as the power which determines what or who is to be incorporated into the political body (in accord with its ''bios'') by means of the more originary exclusion (or exception) of what is to remain outside the political body—which is at the same time the source of that body's composition (''zoe''). According to Agamben,
biopower Biopower (or ''biopouvoir'' in French) is a term coined by French scholar, philosopher, historian, and social theorist Michel Foucault. It relates to the practice of modern nation states and their regulation of their subjects through "an expl ...
, which takes the bare lives of the citizens into its political calculations, may be more marked in the modern state, but has essentially existed since the beginnings of sovereignty in the West, since this structure of ''ex-ception'' is essential to the core concept of sovereignty. Agamben would continue to expand the theory of the state of exception first introduced in ''"Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life"'', ultimately leading to the ''"State of Exception"'' in 2005. Instead of leaving a space between law and life, the space where human action is possible, the space that used to constitute politics, he argues that politics has "contaminated itself with law" in the state of exception. Because "only human action is able to cut the relationship between violence and law", it becomes increasingly difficult within the state of exception for humanity to act against the State.


''State of Exception'' (2005)

In this book, Agamben traces the concept of '
state of exception A state of exception (german: Ausnahmezustand) is a concept introduced in the 1920s by the German philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, similar to a state of emergency (martial law) but based in the sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law ...
' (''Ausnahmezustand'') used by Carl Schmitt to Roman ''
justitium ''Justitium'' (derived from the Latin term ''Juris statio'') is a concept of Roman law, equivalent to the declaration of the state of emergency. Some scholars also refer to it as a state of exception, stemming from a state of necessity. It inv ...
'' and ''
auctoritas ''Auctoritas'' is a Latin word which is the origin of English "authority". While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the 20th century e ...
''. This leads him to a response to Carl Schmitt's definition of
sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
as the power to proclaim the exception. Agamben's text ''State of Exception'' investigates the increase of power by governments which they employ in supposed times of crisis. Within a state of emergency, Agamben refers to the states of exception, where constitutional rights can be diminished, superseded and rejected in the process of claiming this extension of power by a government. The state of exception invests one person or government with the power and voice of authority over others extended well beyond where the law has existed in the past. "In every case, the state of exception marks a threshold at which
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...
and
praxis Praxis may refer to: Philosophy and religion * Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised * Praxis model, a way of doing theology * Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fai ...
blur with each other and a pure violence without ''logos'' claims to realize an enunciation without any real reference" (Agamben, pg 40). Agamben refers a continued state of exception to the Nazi state of Germany under Hitler's rule. "The entire Third Reich can be considered a state of exception that lasted twelve years. In this sense, modern totalitarianism can be defined as the establishment, by means of the state of exception, of a legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system" (Agamben, p. 2). The political power over others acquired through the state of exception, places one government—or one form or branch of government—as all powerful, operating outside the laws. During such times of extension of power, certain forms of knowledge shall be privileged and accepted as true and certain voices shall be heard as valued, while of course, many others are not. This oppressive distinction holds great importance in relation to the production of knowledge. The process of both acquiring knowledge, and suppressing certain knowledge, is a violent act within a time of crisis. Agamben's ''State of Exception'' investigates how the suspension of laws within a state of emergency or crisis can become a prolonged state of being. More specifically, Agamben addresses how this prolonged state of exception operates to deprive individuals of their citizenship. When speaking about the military order issued by President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
on 13 November 2001, Agamben writes, "What is new about President Bush's order is that it radically erases any legal status of the individual, thus producing a legally unnameable and unclassifiable being. Not only do the Taliban captured in Afghanistan not enjoy the status of POW's (prisoner of war) as defined by the
Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
, they do not even have the status of people charged with a crime according to American laws" (Agamben, pg 3). 780 Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan were held at Guantánamo Bay without trial. These individuals were termed "
enemy combatants Enemy combatant is a person who, either lawfully or unlawfully, engages in hostilities for the other side in an armed conflict. Usually enemy combatants are members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. In the case ...
." Until 7 July 2006, these individuals had been treated outside the Geneva Conventions by the United States administration.


''Auctoritas'', "charisma" and ''Führertum'' doctrine

Agamben shows that ''auctoritas'' and ''
potestas ''Potestas'' is a Latin word meaning power or faculty. It is an important concept in Roman Law. Origin of the concept The idea of ''potestas'' originally referred to the power, through coercion, of a Roman magistrate to promulgate edicts, give ac ...
'' are clearly distinct – although they form together a
binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...
system". He quotes Mommsen, who explains that ''auctoritas'' is "less than an order and more than an advice". While ''potestas'' derives from social function, ''auctoritas'' "immediately derives from the ''patres'' personal condition". As such, it is akin to
Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...
's concept of
charisma Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects. Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...
. This is why the tradition ordered, at the king's death, the creation of the sovereign's wax-double in the ''funus imaginarium'', as Ernst Kantorowicz demonstrated in ''The King's Two Bodies'' (1957). Hence, it is necessary to distinguish two bodies of the sovereign in order to assure the continuity of ''dignitas'' (term used by Kantorowicz, here a synonym of ''auctoritas''). Moreover, in the person detaining ''auctoritas''—the sovereign—
public life ''Public Life'' is the third studio album by singer Eddie Schwartz. It was released in 1984 by WEA in Canada. Lead single "Strike" was a minor hit in Canada, reaching #47 on the RPM charts. The second single, " Special Girl", was a top 20 hit on ...
and
private life Private Life may refer to: *life in the private sphere The private sphere is the complement or opposite to the public sphere. The private sphere is a certain sector of societal life in which an individual enjoys a degree of authority, unhampered by ...
have become inseparable.
Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
, the first Roman emperor who claimed ''auctoritas'' as the basis of ''
princeps ''Princeps'' (plural: ''principes'') is a Latin word meaning "first in time or order; the first, foremost, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person". As a title, ''princeps'' originated in the Roman Republic w ...
'' status in a famous passage of ''Res Gestae'', had opened up his house to public eyes. The concept of ''auctoritas'' played a key-role in fascism and
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
, in particular concerning Carl Schmitt's theories, argues Agamben: Thus, Agamben opposes Foucault's concept of "
biopolitics Biopolitics refers to the political relations between the administration or regulation of the life of species and a locality's populations, where politics and law evaluate life based on perceived constants and traits. French philosopher Michel F ...
" to right (law), as he defines the state of exception, in ''Homo sacer'', as the inclusion of life by right under the figure of ex-ception, which is simultaneously inclusion and exclusion. Following Walter Benjamin's lead, he explains that our task would be to radically differentiate "pure violence" from right, instead of tying them together, as did Carl Schmitt. Agamben concludes his chapter on "''Auctoritas'' and ''potestas''" writing: Agamben's thoughts on the state of emergency leads him to declare that the difference between dictatorship and democracy is thin indeed, as rule by decree became more and more common, starting from World War I and the reorganization of constitutional balance. Agamben often reminds that
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
never '' abrogated'' the
Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich (german: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (''Weimarer Verfassung''), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The c ...
: he ''suspended'' it for the duration of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
with the
Reichstag Fire Decree The Reichstag Fire Decree (german: Reichstagsbrandverordnung) is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State (german: Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat) issued by Germ ...
, issued on 28 February 1933. Indefinite suspension of law is what characterizes the state of exception.


''The Highest Poverty'' (2011)

The English edition was translated by Adam Kotsko. In this study of medieval monastic rules, Agamben offers a genealogical approach to several concepts that
Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...
established in his late philosophy, primarily the ''
Philosophical Investigations ''Philosophical Investigations'' (german: Philosophische Untersuchungen) is a work by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, published posthumously in 1953. ''Philosophical Investigations'' is divided into two parts, consisting of what Wittgens ...
'': rule-following, form-of-life, and the central importance of '
use Use may refer to: * Use (law), an obligation on a person to whom property has been conveyed * Use (liturgy), a special form of Roman Catholic ritual adopted for use in a particular diocese * Use–mention distinction, the distinction between using ...
' (for Wittgenstein: 'the meaning of a word is its use in language', and he uses 'language' not just to speak of word-language but any understandable behaviour). Agamben traces earlier versions of the term 'form-of-life' throughout the development of monastic life, beginning with the establishment of a genre of written rules in the fourth century.Giorgio Agamben. The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form-of-Life. Translated by Adam Kotsko. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press 2013, p.xiii. The aim of the book is to differentiate between 'law' and a particular use of rule that is opposite to the implementation of law. In order to sketch out the potential of this concept, we would need 'a theory of use – of which Western philosophy lacks even the most elementary principles'. Agamben turns to the Franciscans to survey a unique historical incident of a group organising itself with a rule that ''is'' their life, and thinking of their own lives not as their own possession but as a communal 'use'; he looks at the ways in which this idea developed and how it eventually lapsed into the
Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...
' law. According to reviewer
Nathan Schneider Nathan Schneider (born 1984) is a scholar, activist, and journalist. Since 2015, he has been a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Writing on religion Much of Schneider's early work concerned the interrelation of ...
, "''The Highest Poverty'' examines two medieval Christian attempts, in the name of eternal life, to live this life beyond the reach of ordinary politics: several centuries of monasticism, and then the brief and momentous epiphany in the movement founded by Francis of Assisi. Each, according to Agamben, fails in revealing ways."


Criticism of US response to 9/11

Giorgio Agamben is particularly critical of the United States' response to 11 September 2001, and its instrumentalization as a permanent condition that legitimizes a "
state of exception A state of exception (german: Ausnahmezustand) is a concept introduced in the 1920s by the German philosopher and jurist Carl Schmitt, similar to a state of emergency (martial law) but based in the sovereign's ability to transcend the rule of law ...
" as the dominant paradigm for governing in contemporary politics. He warns against a "generalization of the state of exception" through laws like the
USA PATRIOT Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...
, which means a permanent installation of
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...
and
emergency powers A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
. In January 2004, he refused to give a lecture in the United States because under the
US-VISIT United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (commonly referred to as US-VISIT) is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) management system. The system involves the collection and analysis of biometric data (such as finger ...
he would have been required to give up his
biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...
information, which he believed stripped him to a state of "bare life" (''zoe'') and was akin to the
tattooing A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing p ...
that the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
did during World War II. However, Agamben's criticisms target a broader scope than the US "
war on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
". As he argues in ''State of Exception'' (2005), rule by decree has become common since World War I in all modern states, and has been since then generalized and abused. Agamben points out a general tendency of modernity, recalling for example that when
Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...
and
Alphonse Bertillon Alphonse Bertillon (; 22 April 1853 – 13 February 1914) was a French police officer and biometrics researcher who applied the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement creating an identification system based on physical me ...
invented "judicial photography" for "
anthropometric Anthropometry () refers to the measurement of the human individual. An early tool of physical anthropology, it has been used for identification, for the purposes of understanding human physical variation, in paleoanthropology and in various atte ...
identification", the procedure was reserved to criminals; to the contrary, today's society is tending toward a generalization of this procedure to all citizens, placing the population under permanent suspicion and
surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...
: "The political body thus has become a criminal body". And Agamben notes that the Jews deportation in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and other occupied countries was made possible by the photos taken from
identity cards An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any documentation, document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID c ...
. Furthermore, Agamben's political criticisms open up in a larger philosophical
critique Critique is a method of disciplined, systematic study of a written or oral discourse. Although critique is commonly understood as fault finding and negative judgment,Rodolphe Gasché (2007''The honor of thinking: critique, theory, philosophy''p ...
of the concept of sovereignty itself, which he argues is intrinsically related to the state of exception.


Statements on COVID-19

Agamben, in an article published by ''Il Manifesto'' on 26 February 2020, quoted the NRC in saying that there was no
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
: "In order to make sense of the frantic, irrational, and absolutely unwarranted emergency measures adopted for a supposed epidemic of coronavirus, we must begin from the declaration of the Italian National Research Council (NRC), according to which 'there is no SARS-CoV2 epidemic in Italy.' and 'the infection, according to the epidemiological data available as of today and based on tens of thousands of cases, causes light/moderate symptoms (a variant of flu) in 80–90% of cases. In 10–15%, there is a chance of pneumonia, but which also has a benign outcome in the large majority of cases. We estimate that only 4% of patients require intensive therapy. Agamben argued that “the health emergency was being exaggerated” to create a state of exception. Agamben's views were strongly criticised by Sergio Benvenuto,
Roberto Esposito Roberto Esposito ( Piano di Sorrento, 4 August 1950) is an Italian political philosopher, critical theorist, and professor, notable for his academic research and works on biopolitics. He currently serves as professor of theoretical philosophy at ...
,
Divya Dwivedi Divya Dwivedi is a philosopher and author based in India. She is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Her work focuses on ontology, metaphysics, literature, and philosophy of politics. Early life and education D ...
,
Shaj Mohan Shaj Mohan is a philosopher based in India. His philosophical works are in the areas of metaphysics, reason, philosophy of technology, philosophy of politics, and secrecy. Mohan's works are based on the principle of ''anastasis'' according to ...
,
Jean-Luc Nancy Jean-Luc Nancy ( , ; 26 July 1940 – 23 August 2021) was a French philosopher. Nancy's first book, published in 1973, was ''Le titre de la lettre'' (''The Title of the Letter'', 1992), a reading of the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Laca ...
and others.


Bibliography

Agamben's major books are listed in order of first Italian publication (with the exception of ''Potentialities'', which first appeared in English), and English translations are listed where available. There are translations of most writings in German, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. * ''L'uomo senza contenuto'' (1970). Translated by Georgia Albert as ''The Man without Content'' (1999). 0-8047-3554-9 * ''Stanze. La parola e il fantasma nella cultura occidentale'' (1977). Trans. Ronald L. Martinez as ''Stanzas: Word and Phantasm in Western Culture'' (1992). 0-8166-2038-5 * ''Infanzia e storia: Distruzione dell'esperienza e origine della storia'' (1978). Trans. Liz Heron as ''Infancy and History: The Destruction of Experience'' (1993). 0-86091-645-6 * ''Il linguaggio e la morte: Un seminario sul luogo della negatività'' (1982). Trans. Karen E. Pinkus with Michael Hardt as ''Language and Death: The Place of Negativity'' (1991). * ''Idea della prosa'' (1985). Trans. Michael Sullivan and Sam Whitsitt as ''Idea of Prose'' (1995). * ''La comunità che viene'' (1990). Trans.
Michael Hardt Michael Hardt (born 1960) is an American political philosopher and literary theorist. Hardt is best known for his book ''Empire'', which was co-written with Antonio Negri. Hardt and Negri suggest that several forces which they see as domin ...
as ''The Coming Community'' (1993). * ''Bartleby, la formula della creazione'' (1993, contains ''Bartleby, or the Contingency'', an essay included in ''Potentialities'', (1999). and a text by Gilles Deleuze from 1989, ''Bartleby ou la formule'', also in Deleuze, ''Essays Clinical and Critical'' (1997). * ''Homo Sacer. Il potere sovrano e la nuda vita (Homo sacer, I)'' (1995). Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen as ''Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life'' (1998). * ''Mezzi senza fine. Note sulla politica'' (1996). Trans. Vincenzo Binetti and Cesare Casarino as ''Means Without End: Notes of Politics'' (2000). * ''Categorie italiane. Studi di poetica'' (1996). Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen as ''The End of the Poem: Studies in Poetics'' (1999). * ''Quel che resta di Auschwitz. L'archivio e il testimone (Homo sacer, III)'' (1998). Trans. Daniel Heller-Roazen as ''Remnants of Auschwitz: The Witness and the Archive. Homo Sacer III'' (1999). * ''Potentialities: Collected Essays in Philosophy.'' (1999). First published in English translation and edited by Daniel Heller-Roazen. . Published in the original Italian, with additional essays, as ''La potenza del pensiero: Saggi e conferenza'' (2005). * ''Il tempo che resta. Un commento alla Lettera ai Romani'' (2000). Trans. Patricia Dailey as ''The Time that Remains: A Commentary on the Letter to the Romans'' (2005). * ''L'aperto. L'uomo e l'animale'' (2002). Trans. Kevin Attell as ''The Open: Man and Animal'' (2004). * ''Stato di eccezione (Homo sacer, II, 1)'' (2003). Trans. Kevin Attell as ''State of Exception'' (2005). * ''Profanazioni'' (2005). Trans. Jeff Fort as ''Profanations'' (2008). * ''Che cos'è un dispositivo?'' (2006). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella in ''What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays'' (2009). * ''L'amico'' (2007). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella in ''What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays'' (2009). * ''Ninfe'' (2007). Trans. Amanda Minervini as "Nymphs" in ''Releasing the Image: From Literature to New Media'', ed. Jacques Khalip and Robert Mitchell (2011). * ''Il regno e la gloria. Per una genealogia teologica dell'economia e del governo (Homo sacer, II, 4)'' (2007). Trans. Lorenzo Chiesa with Matteo Mandarini as ''The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government'' (2011). * ''Che cos'è il contemporaneo?'' (2007). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella in ''What is an Apparatus? and Other Essays'' (2009). * ''Signatura rerum. Sul Metodo'' (2008). Trans. Luca di Santo and Kevin Attell as ''The Signature of All Things: On Method'' (2009). * ''Il sacramento del linguaggio. Archeologia del giuramento (Homo sacer, II, 3)'' (2008). Trans. Adam Kotsko as ''The Sacrament of Language: An Archaeology of the Oath'' (2011). * ''Nudità'' (2009). Trans. David Kishik and Stefan Pedatella as ''Nudities'' (2010). * ''Angeli. Ebraismo Cristianesimo Islam'' (ed. Emanuele Coccia and Giorgio Agamben). Neripozza, Vicenza 2009. * ''La Chiesa e il Regno'' (2010). . Trans. Leland de la Durantaye as ''The Church and the Kingdom'' (2012). * ''La ragazza indicibile. Mito e mistero di Kore'' (2010, with Monica Ferrando.) . Trans. Leland de la Durantaye and Annie Julia Wyman as ''The Unspeakable Girl: The Myth and Mystery of Kore'' (2014). * ''Altissima povertà. Regole monastiche e forma di vita (Homo sacer, IV, 1)'' (2011). . Trans. Adam Kotsko as ''The Highest Poverty: Monastic Rules and Form-of-Life'' (2013). * ''Opus Dei. Archeologia dell'ufficio'' ''(Homo sacer, II, 5)'' (2012). . Trans. Adam Kotsko as ''Opus Dei: An Archaeology of Duty'' (2012). . * ''Pilato e Gesú'' (2013). Trans. by Adam Kotsko as ''Pilate and Jesus'' (2015) * ''Il mistero del male: Benedetto XVI e la fine dei tempi'' (2013). Trans. by Adam Kotsko as ''The Mystery of Evil: Benedict XVI and the End of Days'' (2017) * "Qu'est-ce que le commandement?" (2013) (French translation only, no original version published.) * "''Leviathans Rätsel''" ('Leviathans Riddle') (2013) . English trans. Paul Silas Peterson * ''Il fuoco e il racconto'' (2014). Trans. by Lorenzo Chiesa as ''The Fire and the Tale'' (2017) * ''L'uso dei corpi (Homo sacer, IV, 2)'' (2014). . Trans. Adam Kotsko as ''The Use of Bodies'' (2016). * ''L'avventura'' (2015). Trans. by Lorenzo Chiesa as ''The Adventure'' (2018) * ''Stasis. La guerra civile come paradigma politico'' (2015). . Trans. Nicholas Heron as ''Stasis: Civil War as a Political Paradigm'' (2015). * ''Pulcinella ovvero Divertimento per li regazzi in quattro scene'' (2015). Trans. by Kevin Attell as ''Pulcinella: Or Entertainment for Children'' (2019) * ''Che cos'è la filosofia?'' (2016). Trans. by Lorenzo Chiesa as ''What Is Philosophy?'' (2017) * ''Che cos'è reale? La scomparsa di Majorana'' (2016). Trans. by Lorenzo Chiesa as ''What Is Real?'' (2018) *''Creazione e anarchia'' (2017) Trans. Adam Kotsko as ''Creation and Anarchy'' (2019) *''Karman. Breve trattato sull'azione, la colpa e il gesto'' (2017) Trans. by Adam Kotsko as ''Karman: A Brief Treatise on Action, Guilt, and Gesture'' (2017) *''Studiolo'' (2019) *''A che punto siamo? L’epidemia come politica'' (2019) Trans. by Valeria Dani as ''Where Are We Now? The Epidemic as Politics'' (2020) ;Articles and essays * * * ''The State of Emergency''
extract from a lecture
10 December 2002, at the Centre
Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular ...
- University of Paris VII, Denis Diderot
Entire French text

Philosophical Archaeology (abstract)
Law and Critique. Vol. 20, No. 3, 2009, pp. 211–231.
Introductory Note on the Concept of Democracy
Theory & Event. Vol. 13, No. 1, 2010.

16 February 2012. La Repubblica.
The 451 Manifesto
23 December 2012


The "Latin Empire" should strike back
15 March 2013

24 March 2013
Libération
* Various articles published by ''
Multitudes ''Multitudes'' is a French philosophical, political and artistic monthly journal founded in 2000 by Yann Moulier-Boutang. It is thematically situated in the theoretical framework of the seminal work ''Empire'' by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt. ...
'', availabl
here
* ''To Whom in Poetry Addressed?'', New Observations 130 (2014), p. 11.


See also

* Agamben's explanation of ''auctoritas'' * Agamben's response to Carl Schmitt's definition of sovereignty as the power to decide state exception *''
Basileus ''Basileus'' ( el, ) is a Greek term and title that has signified various types of monarchs in history. In the English-speaking world it is perhaps most widely understood to mean "monarch", referring to either a "king" or an "emperor" and al ...
'' *'' Homo sacer'' *''
Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one monarch and the next (coming from Latin '' ...
'' *''
Justitium ''Justitium'' (derived from the Latin term ''Juris statio'') is a concept of Roman law, equivalent to the declaration of the state of emergency. Some scholars also refer to it as a state of exception, stemming from a state of necessity. It inv ...
'' *
Unlawful combatant An unlawful combatant, illegal combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent is a person who directly engages in armed conflict in violation of the laws of war and therefore is claimed not to be protected by the Geneva Conventions. The Internati ...
s


Notes and references


External links

;English
Giorgio Agamben Faculty Page
at
European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, P ...
*Catherine Mills
Giorgio Agamben
- Entry at
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...

Review of Agamben, ''Profanations''
by
Daniel Ross Daniel Ross may refer to: * Daniel Ross (actor) (born 1980), American actor, voice actor, and producer * Daniel Ross (philosopher) (born 1970), Australian philosopher and filmmaker * Daniel Ross (marine surveyor) (1780–1849), president of the Bom ...

On Giorgio Agamben's ''Profanations''
by Mehdi Belhaj Kacem
Interview with Giorgio Agamben – Life, A Work of Art Without an Author: The State of Exception, the Administration of Disorder and Private Life
by Brett Neilson

by
Toni Negri Antonio "Toni" Negri (born 1 August 1933) is an Italian Spinozistic-Marxist sociologist and political philosopher, best known for his co-authorship of ''Empire'' and secondarily for his work on Spinoza. Born in Padua, he became a political ph ...

"Get Rid Of Yourself"
with Giorgio Agamben, by Bernadette Corporation.
Apparatus, Capture, Trace: Photography and Biopolitics
in: Fillip. Fall 2011.

By Giorgio Agamben. Public lecture in Athens, 16.11.2013. Invitation and organization by Nicos Poulantzas Institute and
SYRIZA The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...
Youth.
What is a Destituent Power?
By Giorgio Agamben (translated by Stephanie Wakefield). ''Environment and Planning D: Society and Space'' 32(1), 65–74.
Anthony Downey, 'Zones of Indistinction: Giorgio Agamben's "Bare Life" and the Politics of Aesthetics', (2009) 98 Third. Text pp 109–25
* Giorgio Agamben Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. ;French
''"État d'exception" de G. Agamben''
by Sandra Salomon. * * * Giorgio Agamben Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. ;Hebrew
Review of ''State of Exception''
Yehouda Shenhav, Sfarim
Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...
, 23.11.2005. ;Croatian
An Essay on Giorgio Agamben's ''Homo sacer''
by
Mario Kopić Mario Kopić (born 13 March 1965) is a philosopher, author and translator. His main areas of interest include: the history of ideas, the philosophy of art, the philosophy of culture, phenomenology and the philosophy of religion. Kopić is infl ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agamben, Giorgio 1942 births 20th-century essayists 20th-century Italian male writers 20th-century Italian philosophers 21st-century essayists 21st-century Italian male writers 21st-century Italian philosophers Academics of the Warburg Institute Carl Schmitt scholars Continental philosophers Critical theorists Cultural critics Emergency laws European Graduate School faculty Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf faculty Italian essayists Italian male non-fiction writers Italian philosophers Italian political philosophers Living people Northwestern University faculty Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of history Philosophers of law Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophers of social science Philosophers of technology Philosophers of war Philosophy academics Philosophy writers Political philosophers Social critics Social philosophers Theorists on Western civilization University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Macerata faculty University of Verona faculty Walter Benjamin scholars Wittgensteinian philosophers Writers about activism and social change Writers about religion and science Writers from Rome