Agamben and Indifference: A Critical Overview

by William Watkin

Overview

The first truly comprehensive and fully up-to-date critical introduction to the philosophy of Giorgio Agamben for an interdisciplinary audience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783480074
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/11/2013
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

William Watkin is Professor of Comparative Literature and Philosophy at Brunel University, UK. He is the author of In the Process of Poetry: The New York School and the Avant-Garde (Bucknell UP, 2001), On Mourning: Theories of Loss in Modern Literature (Edinburgh UP, 2004) and The Literary Agamben (Continuum, 2010).

Table of Contents

Introduction / Part One: The Archaeology of Indifference / 1. The Signature of All Things: Paradigms and Signatures / 2. Philosophical Archaeology / 3. The Language of Death: Indifferent Difference as Such in Hegel and Heidegger / 4. The Coming Community: An Essay on Indifferent Singularities / 5. Towards a Deictic Ontology or Being-thus As-such / Part Two: Difference and Indifference / 6. Derrida and Agamben: Différance Makes Indifference Communicable / 7. Potentiality, Virtuality and Impotentiality: Agamben and Deleuze / 8. The Two Bartlebies: Deleuze, Agamben and Immanence / Part Three: The Indifference of Indifference: Politics, Language, Life / 9. Homo Sacer and the Politics of Indifference / 10. The Kingdom and the Glory: The Articulated Inoperativity of Power / 11. The Sacrament of Language: Language as Communicability / Conclusion: The End of Lying and the Birth of Living / Bibliography / Index

Editorial Reviews

The multifaceted and penetrating work of Giorgio Agamben deserves a profound study, in particular his critique of the philosophy of difference, and that of indifference which emerges from it. Watkin engages in a clear examination of the organizing concepts of Agamben and their elucidating power for all philosophy, as well as an analysis of their applications in various diverse domains (the “signatures” or names of reference of the modern tradition, the archaeology of indifference, etc.).  Watkin's sharp lens is indispensable for those who want to grasp a central aspect of contemporary philosophy that has not ceased to trouble it since Nietzsche and Heidegger. It is an excellent book on a great contemporary philosopher.

Francois Laruelle

William Watkin's book is certainly an illuminating and profound reading of my entire work. But it is, at the same time, much more than that. According to Walter Benjamin's idea that theory can today only be written in the form of interpretation, Watkin has produced a work of astonishing originality, which any attempt to read twentieth-century philosophy will be obliged to confront.

Valeria Dani

One of the most powerful and thoughtful introductions to Giorgio Agamben’s thought that I have read in a long time. This is a perfect sequel to Watkin’s groundbreaking Literary Agamben. We untangle Agamben’s philosophy by delineating his concepts and methods in opposition to those of Derrida and Deleuze. Watkin guides you as no one does, and all the while provides an accessible roadmap.

Jean-Michel Rabate

William Watkin's book is certainly an illuminating and profound reading of my entire work. But it is, at the same time, much more than that. According to Walter Benjamin's idea that theory can today only be written in the form of interpretation, Watkin has produced a work of astonishing originality, which any attempt to read twentieth-century philosophy will be obliged to confront.

Giorgio Agamben

One of the most powerful and thoughtful introductions to Giorgio Agamben’s thought that I have read in a long time. This is a perfect sequel to Watkin’s groundbreaking Literary Agamben. We untangle Agamben’s philosophy by delineating his concepts and methods in opposition to those of Derrida and Deleuze. Watkin guides you as no one does, and all the while provides an accessible roadmap.

Jean-Michel Rabaté