To live means to read: Agamben’s messianism as an archaeological inquiry

This article aims to elucidate the relationship between Agamben’s notion of messianism and his project of philosophical archaeology. Whereas the former relates to political and ethical aspects of Agamben’s philosophy, the latter belongs to the domain of methodology of philosophical research itself....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of philosophy and theology
Main Author: Layus, Georgy (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis 2023
In: International journal of philosophy and theology
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Agamben, Giorgio 1942- / Messianism / Political action / Discouragement
RelBib Classification:NCD Political ethics
TK Recent history
VA Philosophy
Further subjects:B Genealogy
B Destituent power
B Messianism
B Philosophical archaeology
B Agamben
B Political Theology
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This article aims to elucidate the relationship between Agamben’s notion of messianism and his project of philosophical archaeology. Whereas the former relates to political and ethical aspects of Agamben’s philosophy, the latter belongs to the domain of methodology of philosophical research itself. The main thesis of the paper argues that these two components rely on each other and constitute one and the same project. The author demonstrates that Agamben’s notion of messianic action and scholarly activity of philosophical archaeology overlap, which leads to a problematization of political dimension of Agamben’s messianism. The orientation towards the past in Agamben’s understanding of the messianic is its crucial presupposition that imposes limits on its applicability to the realm of politics. This thesis is substantiated by an investigation of the problem of relation between theory and practice in Agamben’s thought and by a close reading of the ‘Mystery of Anomia’ section in The Time that Remains. Beginning with the problem of the possibility of a transition from the tragic narrative elaborated in the Homo Sacer project to the messianic state of lawlessness, the author demonstrates that in Agamben’s thought this transition is made possible only by means of an archaeological inquiry.
ISSN:2169-2335
Contains:Enthalten in: International journal of philosophy and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/21692327.2023.2213269