“Bare Life” and Politics in Agamben's Reading of Aristotle

2010 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Gordon Finlayson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Western Politics

AbstractGiorgio Agamben's critique of Western politics inHomo Sacerand three related books has been highly influential in the humanities and social sciences. The critical social theory set out in these works depends essentially on his reading of Aristotle'sPolitics. His diagnosis of what ails Western politics and his suggested remedy advert to a “biopolitical paradigm,” at the center of which stand a notion of “bare life” and a purported opposition betweenbiosandzoē. Agamben claims that this distinction is found in Aristotle's text, in ancient Greek, and in a tradition of political theory and political society stemming from fourth-century Athens to the present. However, a close reading of Aristotle refutes this assertion. There is no such distinction. I show that he bases this view on claims about Aristotle by Arendt and Foucault, which are also unfounded.

scholarly journals Fear and retrotopia – Critical reflections on the rise of defensive emotions in liquid modernity

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 94-124
Author(s):  
Michael Hviid Jacobsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Sociology Of Emotions ◽  
Liquid Modernity ◽  
Collective Emotions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Times ◽  
Contemporary Study

This article critically addresses the contemporary study of what is called 'defensive emotions' such as fear and nostalgia among a number of social theorists. While it may be true that the collective emotions of fear and nostalgia (here framed by the phrase of 'retrotopia') may indeed be on the rise in Western liberal democracies, it is also important to be wary of taking the literature on the matter as a sign that fear and nostalgia actually permeate all levels of culture and everyday life. The article starts out with some reflections on the sociology of emotions and shows how the early interest in emotions (theoretical and empirical) among a small group of sociologists is today supplemented with the rise of a critical social theory using collective emotions as a lens for conducting a critical analysis of the times. Then the article in turn deals with the contemporary interest within varuious quarters of the social sciences with describing, analysing and diagnosing the rise of what is here called 'defensive emotions' – emotions that express and symbolize a society under attack and emotions that are mostly interpreted as negative signs of the times. This is followed by some reflections on the collective emotions of fear and nostalgia/retrotopia respectively. The article is concluded with a discussion of how we may understand and assess this relatively new interest in defensive emotions.

Relations, Human and Non-human

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-135
Author(s):  
Milja Kurki
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
International Relations Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Social

This chapter argues for an extension of how we think relationally via relational cosmology. It places relational cosmology in a conversation with varied relational perspectives in critical social theory and argues that specific kinds of extensions and dialogues emerge from this perspective. In particular, a conversation on how to think relationality without fixing its meaning is advanced. This chapter also discusses in detail how to extend beyond discussion of ‘human’ relationalities towards comprehending the wider ‘mesh’ of relations that matter but are hard to capture for situated knowers in the social sciences and IR. This key chapter seeks to provide the basis for a translation between relational cosmology, critical social theory, critical humanism and International Relations theory.

Stretching Situated Knowledge

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Milja Kurki
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Situated Knowledge ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Standpoint Epistemology ◽  
Critical Social

This chapter, first of three to develop relational cosmology in conversation with critical social theory and IR theory, argues that at the heart of relational cosmology lies a commitment to situated knowledge. This perspective on knowledge production is similar in some regards to standpoint epistemology but also diverges from it in key respects. The chapter argues that IR scholarship can benefit from close engagement with relational cosmology suggestions as to how our knowledge is limited and how we might need to ‘deal with it’, especially in the social sciences, where there is a tendency to glorify the role of the human in knowing the human.

ConclusionBringing the Economy Back In

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Onur Ulas Ince
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Colonial Capitalism ◽  
Critical Social

This chapter recapitulates the theoretical conclusions of the book, highlights its contributions, and identifies the further lines of research that it opens up. It is argued that colonial capitalism offers a new perspective on liberalism and empire by shifting the focus from who the colonized are to what the colonizers do as an ideological challenge to the universal claims of liberalism. Secondly, colonial capitalism as an analytic frame can generate systematic explanations of how liberal thinkers parsed and ordered the variety of cultural differences between Europeans and non-Europeans, and why they emphasized certain differences over others as being more relevant for imperial justification or anti-imperial critique. Finally, it is maintained that introducing capitalism into the study of political theory in the imperial context pushes the boundaries of political theory more broadly to encompass questions, such as of dispossession and exploitation, conventionally relegated to critical social theory and political economy.

The Reification of the Other as a Social Pathology

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 13-44
Author(s):  
Alexis Gros ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Social Pathology ◽  
Social Critical ◽  
Alternative Reading

The present paper constitutes an attempt to articulate, systematize, and further develop the implicit traces of a phenomenological critical theory that, according to Michael Barber’s reading, are to be found in Schutz’s thought. It is my contention that a good way to achieve this aim is by reading Schutz against the background of novel, phenomenologically and hermeneutically informed accounts of Critical Theory in the tradition of the Frankfurt School, such as Hartmut Rosa’s. In order to achieve the stated objective, I will proceed in four steps. First (1), I will briefly reconstruct the mostly negative reception of phenomenology, the interpretive social sciences, and Schutz by both the Frankfurt School and contemporary critical social theory. Second (2), I will present Barber’s alternative reading of Schutzian phenomenology as entailing an implicit ethics and a rudimentary critical theory based thereon. Third (3), I will sketch out Rosa’s formal model of Critical Theory as an heuristic means for articulating Schutz’s unspoken social-critical insights. Finally (4), establishing a dialogue between Barber’s reading of Schutz and Rosa’s account, I will provide a preliminary articulation of Schutz’s rudimentary critical theory.

International Relations in a Relational Universe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milja Kurki
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Careful Attention ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Do So

It is time for International Relations (IR) to join the relational revolution afoot in the natural and social sciences. To do so, more careful reflection is needed on cosmological assumptions in the sciences and also in the study and practice of international relations. In particular it is argued here that we need to pay careful attention to whether and how we think ‘relationally’. Building a conversation between relational cosmology, developed in the natural sciences, and critical social theory, this book seeks to develop a new perspective on how to think relationally in and around the study of IR. This book asks: What kind of cosmological background assumptions do we make as we tackle international relations today and where do our assumptions (about states, individuals or the international) come from? And can we reorient our cosmological imaginations towards more relational understandings of the universe and what would this mean for the study and practice of international politics? The book argues that we live in a world without ‘things’, a world of processes and relations. It also suggests that we live in relations which exceed the boundaries of the human and the social, in planetary relations with plants and animals. Rethinking conceptual premises of IR, Kurki points towards a ‘planetary politics’ perspective within which we can reimagine IR as a field of study and also political practices, including the future of democracy.

Agamben'in Siyasal Kuramı ve Türkiye'deki Suriyelilerin Hukuksal Statüleri

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-228
Author(s):  
Esin Hamdi Dinçer
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Legal Structure ◽  
Domestic Law ◽  
The Eu

Suriye’de 2011 yılında başlayan iç savaş, 6 milyonun üzerinde nüfusun ülkeyi terk etmesine neden olmuştur. Yaklaşık 3,6 milyon sığınmacıyı Türkiye’de yaşamaya zorlayan bu süreç, Türkiye hukuk sisteminde de önemli değişikliklere neden olmuştur. Avrupa Birliği ile yapılan “Geri Kabul Anlaşması” ve ona binaen Türkiye iç hukuk mevzuatına eklenen “Yabancılar ve Uluslararası Koruma Kanunu” önemli iki düzenleme olarak karşımıza çıkar. Söz konusu hukuksal normlar, toplumsal değişim bağlamında ele alınabileceği gibi “özne”, “ayrımcılık”, “dışlama” gibi kavramlar çerçevesinde de tartışılabilir. Bu makale, iki düzenlemeyi, söz konusu kavramları siyasal kuramının önemli konuları arasına yerleştirmiş olan Giorgio Agamben’in düşünceleriyle tartışmaya açmaktadır. Çalışmada, “kutsal insan”, “istisna durumu”, “çıplak yaşam” gibi kategorilerle öne çıkan İtalyan siyaset kuramcısının günümüz hukuksal rejimini yorumlamada önemli fırsatlar sunduğu öne sürülmektedir.ABSTRACT IN ENGLISHAgamben's Political Theory and Legal Status of Syrians in TurkeySyria’s civil war, started in 2011, has caused over 6 million people flee abroad. This process forced around 3,6 million refugees to live in Turkey, leading significant changes in Turkish legal structure. The EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement and the Law on Foreigners and International Protection that is added into domestic law as a result of this agreement, are two main legislations in this regard. Such legal norms can be evaluated around the framework on social change as well as in accordance with concepts such as “subject”, “discrimination” and “exclusion”. This article, discusses these two legislations based on Giorgio Agamben’s thought, who has succeeded in putting these concepts at the center of political theory. The article argues that, this Italian political theorist well-known with his catogeries of “homo sacer”, “state of exception” and “bare life”, provides significant opportunities in interpreting the goals of contemporary legal regimes.

The New Darwinian Naturalism in Political Theory

1995 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry Arnhart
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
David Hume ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Nature Versus Nurture ◽  
The Social

There has been a resurgence of Darwinian naturalism in political theory, as manifested in the recent work of political scientists such as Roger Masters, Robert McShea, and James Q. Wilson. They belong to an intellectual tradition that includes not only Charles Darwin but also Aristotle and David Hume. Although most political scientists believe Darwinian social theory has been refuted, their objections rest on three false dichotomies: facts versus values, nature versus freedom, and nature versus nurture. Rejecting these dichotomies would allow the social sciences to be linked to the natural sciences through Darwinian biology.

Political Philosophy and Nationalism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruhtan Yalçıner
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
Universal Theory ◽  
The Core ◽  
Political Sciences ◽  
Categorical Structure ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Core Issues

Theoretical debates for a better definition of nationalism have played a key role in understanding the core issues of history, sociology, and political sciences. Classical modernist theories of nationalism mainly synthesized former sociological and historical approaches with a political science perspective. Within the classical modernist perspective, the necessity and importance of transformation from traditional culture and society to a horizontal one in the agenda of modernization was characterized as a universal consequence of industrialization. Some of the foremost complexities and problems involved in the classical and contemporary studies of nation and nationalism include the logic of dualization; the definition of nationalism with reference to its substantive and paradigmatic nature; and whether it is possible to concretely construct a universal theory of nationalism. Both classical and contemporary theories of nations and nationalism can be postulated with reference to two major theoretical sides. Universalist theories of nations and nationalism focus on the categorical structure of nationalism in conceptual grounds while being associated with (neo)positivistic methodological points of departure. On the other hand, particularist theories of nationalism underline the immanent characteristics of nations and nationalism by going through nominalism and relativism in methodological grounds. Considering the conceptual, epistemological, and theoretical contributions of “postclassical approach to nationalism” in the 1990s, three major contributions in contemporary nationalism studies can be marked: the increasing research on gender, sexuality, and feminist social theory; the framework of “new social theory” or “critical social theory”; and the discussions derived from political philosophy and normative political theory.

The End of Bare Life?

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL ELIN NOLAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Rights ◽  
Bare Life ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
Homo Sacer ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Western Politics

Since Giorgio Agamben's influential critique of the liberal-democratic state, scholars have offered a more fulsome engagement with the ways that this formation extends Foucauldian biopolitical discourses by foregrounding the emergence of biological existence as “the new political subject.” InHomo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare LifeAgamben argues that it is impossible to understand the development, vocation, and contradictions of the modern state “if one forgets that what lies at its basis is not man as a free and conscious political subject, but, above all, man's bare life, the simple birth that as such is, in the passage from subject to citizen, invested in the principle of sovereignty.” Bare or pure life is the human as animal in nature without political definition or mediation. It is the isolation of the metaphysical from the various forms of concrete life that defines and conditions Western politics. Projects that imagine political communities as grounded in belonging or endeavor to found political rights in the citizen are in vain. The figure of thehomo sacer – the “sacred man” who “may be killed and yet not sacrificed” – is one of the most distinctive elements of Agamben's project of redefining sovereignty in biopolitical terms. Contra notions of collective political sovereignty as the basis of state politics, the figure of thehomo sacerattends to a more authoritarian model that pivots on the role of state authorities in simultaneously conditioning and dis/avowing the movement from bare life to rights-bearing subject.

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