This volume provides the first in-depth collection of essays aimed at critically examining the work of political philosopher Giorgio Agamben.

“Menanggapi teori Foucault tentang biopolitik, yang di dalamnya kehidupan manusia menjadi target kekuasaan organisasional negara, maka Agamben pun berpendapat bahwa tentunya ada suatu ‘ikatan tersembunyi’ antara kekuasaan tertinggi dan biopolitik yang dibentuk dengan pijakan kekuasaan tertinggi negara.” —Amy O’Donoghue dalam Critical Legal Thinking. “Kita tahu bahwa dengan buku Homo Sacer ini, Giorgio Agamben memulai sebuah kerja pembacaan ulang atas tradisi politik Barat dan berusaha mengurai beberapa enigma yang dimunculkan oleh abad ke-20 bagi nalar sejarah.” —Sidi Askofaré, psikanalis. “Tokoh besar filsafat kontemporer, Giorgio Agamben, telah mengembangkan selama 20 tahun sebuah proyek intelektual tentang homo sacer. Dalam hukum Romawi, homo sacer adalah orang yang identitas yuridisnya sudah dilucuti dan ia boleh dibunuh tanpa dampak hukum.” —Emanuel Guay, Universitas Québec, Montréal, Kanada.

A critical introduction to the work of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben.

This book offers a thorough introduction to, and engagement with, the jurisprudential, political and philosophical thought of the influential Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben. Critically introducing Agamben's work to both a readership in legal theory, and in the humanities and social sciences more generally, Zartaloudis takes up the three main themes of Agamben's recent work: Power (in its relation to bio-politics, capitalism, social systems, control and political theory); Law (in its relation to philosophy, violence, rights, states of exception and sovereignty); and Humanity (in its relation to theories of ethics, the idea of the human, human rights discourse and the condition of refugees).

This book collects new contributions from an international group of leading scholars – including many who have worked closely with Agamben – to consider the impact of Agamben’s thought on research in the humanities and social sciences. Giorgio Agamben: Legal, Political and Philosophical Perspectives addresses the potential of Agamben’s thought by re-focusing attention away from his critiques of Western politics and towards his scheme for a political future. Part I of the book draws upon a wide range of issues such as legal oaths, legal reasoning and Christian conceptions of love in order to examine the potential for Agamben’s work to impact upon future legal scholarship. Part II focuses on political perspectives that include references to Marx, Rousseau and Agamben’s conception of the ‘messianic’. Theology, biology, and the thought of Gilles Deleuze, Walter Benjamin and Antonin Artaud are all drawn upon in Part III to explore philosophical perspectives in Agamben’s thought. This book demonstrates the importance and originality of Giorgio Agamben, who has articulated a vision of politics that must be recognised as an influential contribution to modern philosophical and political thinking. It is a book that will be of considerable interest to many working across the humanities and social sciences.

This collection of essays, newly available in paperback, seeks to explore Agamben's work from philosophical and literary perspectives, thereby underpinning its place within larger debates in continental philosophy.

Italian critical theorist Giorgio Agamben may be best known for his political writings concerning the curtailing of privacy rights in the wake of 9/11 and the status of prisoners of war and refugees. Yet, casting him primarily as a political theorist is misleading given his significant contributions to the fields of linguistics, literary theory, philosophy, aesthetics, and religious studies. This book provides the first ever comprehensive introduction to Agamben’s work as it pertains to the field of education. Written in a clear and accessible style, Giorgio Agamben: Education without Ends is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in thinking education beyond its current standardized forms. The first part of the book creates a context by highlighting formative experiences in Agamben’s biography that reflect a particular idea of education on the threshold between life and work. The second part introduces the notions of infancy, study, community, and happiness, and discusses their relevance with regard to key issues in educational theory and practice. The third part shows how conceptual constellations based on Agamben’s work can inspire studious practices within the spatial, temporal, and curricular infrastructure of educational institutions as they exist today.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The paradox of sovereignty is that the sovereign is, at the same time, outside and inside the juridical order. If the sovereign is the one who grants the power to proclaim a state of exception, then he stands outside the juridical order, but he belongs to it because it is up to him to decide if the constitution is to be suspended in its entirety. #2 The exception is what cannot be subsumed. It defies general codification, but it simultaneously reveals a specifically juridical for mal element: the decision in absolute purity. The exception appears in its absolute form when it is a question of creating a situation in which juridical rules can be valid. #3 The exception is an element of law that transcends positive law in the form of its suspension. What is excluded from the general rule is an individual case, but the most proper characteristic of the exception is that what is excluded in it is not absolutely without relation to the rule. #4 The structure of the juridico-political order is that of an inclusion of what is simultaneously pushed outside it. The exception defines the structure of sovereignty by allowing what is outside to be included through an interdiction, and in this way, the system constitutes itself as an exterior to itself.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The Italian government has declared a state of emergency, and has imposed severe restrictions on freedom in order to combat the SARS epidemic. But according to the National Research Council, the infection actually causes mild/moderate symptoms in 80 to 90 percent of cases. #2 The CNR’s response to the flu is absurd. The state of precarity and fear that has been systematically cultivated in people’s minds over the past few years has led to a natural propensity for mass panic, which the authorities can use to their advantage.

Giorgio Agamben is one of the most important and controversial figures in contemporary continental philosophy and critical theory. His work covers a broad array of topics from biblical criticism to Guantanamo Bay and the ‘war on terror’. Alex Murray explains Agamben’s key ideas, including: an overview of his work from first publication to the present clear analysis of Agamben’s philosophy of language and life theories of ethics and ‘witnessing’ the relationship between Agamben’s political writing and his work on aesthetics and poetics. Investigating the relationship between politics, language, literature, aesthetics and ethics, this guide is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the complex nature of modern political and cultural formations.