Giorgio Agamben Quotes
Giorgio Agamben is an Italian philosopher whose Homo Sacer project, begun in 1995, has reshaped contemporary political philosophy through a radical genealogy of sovereignty, bare life, and the state of exception. Drawing on Aristotle, Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, and Foucault, he argued that sovereign power constitutes itself by including, through exclusion, a form of life stripped of political existence. The quotes below are attributed to Giorgio Agamben, organized by topic.
Giorgio Agamben on Death
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“God didn't die, he was transformed into money.”
As quoted in "God didn't die, he was transformed into money" - An interview with Giorgio Agamben - Peppe Savà , libcom.org . -
“As quoted in "God didn't die, he was transformed into money" - An interview with Giorgio Agamben - Peppe Savà , libcom.org .”
God didn't die, he was transformed into money.
Giorgio Agamben on Freedom
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“[E]ase names perfectly that "free use of the proper" that, according to an expression of Friedrich Hölderlin 's, is "the most difficult task.”
page 25.
Giorgio Agamben on God
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“Antoine Meillet also noted that imperatives in European languages are typically the morphological root of the verb, and hypothesised that the imperative was the primitive form of a verb: “walk!” precedes “to walk” or “he walks”. This opens up the possibility of an alternative ontology , or pre-ontology, based on commandment rather than assertion, on “be!” rather than “is”. While philosophical or scientific statements would fall under the ordinary “is”-based ontology, fields like law, religion or magic would operate in the imperative mode: “let there be…”
Giorgio Agamben, "What is a commandment?" March 28, 2011
Giorgio Agamben on Knowledge
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“In the eyes of authority – and maybe rightly so – nothing looks more like a terrorist than the ordinary man.”
What is an Apparatus?: And Other Essays (2009), Stanford University Press, p. 35. -
“What is an Apparatus?: And Other Essays (2009), Stanford University Press, p. 35.”
In the eyes of authority – and maybe rightly so – nothing looks more like a terrorist than the ordinary man. -
“Giorgio Agamben, "What is a commandment?" March 28, 2011”
Antoine Meillet also noted that imperatives in European languages are typically the morphological root of the verb, and hypothesised that the imperative was the primitive form of a verb: “walk!” precedes “to walk” or “he walks”. This opens up the possibility of an alternative ontology , or pre-ontology, based on commandment rather than assertion, on “be!” rather than “is”. While philosophical or s -
“Giorgio Agamben. What is a Paradigm? . Retrieved on November 14, 2015.”
Kuhn acknowledges having used the term "paradigm" in two different meanings. In the first one, "paradigm" designates what the members of a certain scientific community have in common, that is to say, the whole of techniques, patents and values shared by the members of the community. In the second sense, the paradigm is a single element of a whole, say for instance Newton’s Principia, which, acting
Giorgio Agamben on Life
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Attributed to Giorgio Agamben:
“Bare life is life exposed to death without the protection of any political form.”
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“If human beings were or had to be this or that substance, this or that destiny, no ethical experience would be possible... This does not mean, however, that humans are not, and do not have to be, something, that they are simply consigned to nothingness and therefore can freely decide whether to be or not to be, to adopt or not to adopt this or that destiny (nihilism and decisionism coincide at this point). There is in effect something that humans are and have to be, but this is not an essence nor properly a thing: It is the simple fact of one's own existence as possibility or potentiality.”
Ch. 11 : Ethics
Giorgio Agamben on Love
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“Love is never directed toward this or that property of the loved one (being blond, being small, being tender, being lame), but neither does it neglect the properties in favor of an insipid generality (universal love): The lover wants the loved one with all of its predicates , its being such as it is.”
page 2.
Giorgio Agamben on Politics
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Attributed to Giorgio Agamben:
“The state of exception has become the rule.”
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Attributed to Giorgio Agamben:
“The camp is the nomos of the modern.”
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Attributed to Giorgio Agamben:
“Sovereignty is the structure that includes life by excluding it.”
Giorgio Agamben on Truth
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Attributed to Giorgio Agamben:
“What can no longer be said can still be shown.”