Potentiality, Sovereignty and Bare Life. A Critical Reading of Giorgio Agamben

Abstract

This article presents a critical account of Agamben's understanding of the logic of sovereignty and of the notion bare life, particularly Agamben's approach to the paradox of sovereignty and its relation to Aristotle's metaphysical category of potentiality. With regards to bare life, it brings together an analysis of the figure of the homo sacer with an account of Agamben's use of paradigms as methodological tools. The first part of the paper argues that Agamben ontologises sovereignty by dramatising the paradox of its structure as im-potentiality. The second part claims that even though an account of Agamben's methodology serves to respond to the different critiques that his notion of bare life has raised, Agamben's notions of sovereignty and of bare life ultimately rely on Schmitt's decisionism.

The Concept of Sovereign Personality as a Topical, Historical-Philosophical and Humanitarian Problem

“…One of the most urgent philosophic explanations of "sovereignty" notion in social-philosophic aspect belongs to Italian philosopher G. Agamben. Critical consideration of his philosophic ideas helps to decode implicit notions of humanitarian direction thinkers concerning theoretical and practical prospects of a personality in the future [3].…”

Al-Karnak by Najib Mahfudz: Anatomy of Sovereignty, Inequalities, and Dilemmas of Humanity

“…Departing from the thoughts of Walter Benjamin in his notes entitled Critique of Violence [14] in detail explains how the legal conception when they encountered the complicated problems of citizens. Benjamin captures that the law acts when the state is on track to maintain stability between the government and citizens [15]. However, there are conditions when the state is faced with internal instability that requires it to act more accommodatively.…”