Form-of-Life: From Politics to Aesthetics (and Back)

Authors

  • Jason E. Smith

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/nja.v23i44-45.8180

Keywords:

keywords Agamben, form-of-life, politics, operaismo, aesthetics

Abstract

This article examines an often-mentioned but largely undeveloped concept in the work of Giorgio Agamben and in particular his Homo Sacer project: form-of-life. What is at stake in this concept is, I attempt to show, a way of thinking “politics” outside of the space of sovereignty. By examining a short text on this notion published just before the opening installment of the Homo Sacer sequence, this article demonstrates the way this early formulation of the concept is indebted to certain strains of Italian workerist and post-workerist thought. The fundamental question this analysis poses, however, is whether the concept of form-of-life, being to some extent “beyond” the classical space of politics, should in fact be understood as fundamentally aesthetic in nature.

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Published

2014-07-21

How to Cite

Smith, J. E. (2014). Form-of-Life: From Politics to Aesthetics (and Back). The Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, 23(44-45). https://doi.org/10.7146/nja.v23i44-45.8180

Issue

Section

Articles