Agamben and politics: a critical introduction

In: Thinking politics

Abstract

Tracing how the logic of inoperativity works in the domains of language, law, history and humanity, Agamben and Politics systematically introduces the fundamental concepts of Agamben's political thought and a critically interprets his insights in the wider context of contemporary philosophy. Agamben's commentators and critics tend to focus on his powerful critique of the Western political tradition in the Homo Sacer series. But this narrow focus serves to obscure the overall structure of Agamben's political thought, which is neither negative nor critical but affirmative. Sergei Prozorov brings out the affirmative mood of Agamben's political thought, focusing on the concept of inoperativity, which has been central to Agamben's work from his earliest writings. Key Features. The first critical introduction to focus on Agamben's political thought Shows Agamben's political thought to be primarily affirmative rather than critical Reads Agamben's politics in the context of his first philosophical works on ontology and ethics Covers all of Agamben's published work, introducing the full variety of themes and concepts he addresses