Giorgio Agamben: Political Philosophy

Giorgio Agamben is one of the most hotly debated political philosophers today. His works on the political and legal paradigm of the West have caught the attention of philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and jurists alike, but his significance has been obscured by myths and misunderstandings. This book seeks to dispel the most unhelpful myths arising from the politically controversial nature of his work and to defend the most pertinent of his arguments in political philosophy. It also seeks to show how Agamben's philosophy can be useful for analyses of contemporary political and social phenomena. The book discusses centrepieces of Agamben's ontology and political philosophy, focusing on Homo Sacer, State of Exception, and The Kingdom and the Glory, and it tackles some of the most pressing issues discussed by Agamben including soverereignty, law, religion, profanation and messianism. Rasmus Ugilt is Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Denmark. His main research interests are classic German philosophy (Kant, Hegel, and Schelling), contemporary continental philosophy (Agamben, Badiou, Butler, Deleuze, Dolar, Žižek, Zupančič) and the political and legal situation that has emerged as a result of the anti-terrorism politicies that dominated international politics in the first decade of the new millennium. He is the author of The Metaphysics of Terror (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012).