Creation and Anarchy: The Work of Art and the Religion of Capitalism

Giorgio Agamben

Published by Stanford University Press 2019

Creation and Anarchy

The Work of Art and the Religion of Capitalism

Giorgio Agamben
Translated by: Adam Kotsko

In the series Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503609273

Overview
Contents

About this book

Creation and the giving of orders are closely entwined in Western culture, where God commands the world into existence and later issues the injunctions known as the Ten Commandments. The arche, or origin, is always also a command, and a beginning is always the first principle that governs and decrees. This is as true for theology, where God not only creates the world but governs and continues to govern through continuous creation, as it is for the philosophical and political tradition according to which beginning and creation, command and will, together form a strategic apparatus without which our society would fall apart.

The five essays collected here aim to deactivate this apparatus through a patient archaeological inquiry into the concepts of work, creation, and command. Giorgio Agamben explores every nuance of the arche in search of an an-archic exit strategy. By the book's final chapter, anarchy appears as the secret center of power, brought to light so as to make possible a philosophical thought that might overthrow both the principle and its command.

Author / Editor information

Giorgio Agamben is a contemporary Italian philosopher and political theorist whose works have been translated into numerous languages. His most recent title with Stanford University Press is What Is Real? (2018).

Reviews

Devin Singh:
"Adam Kotsko's lucid translation has continued his service to the field in making Agamben's texts accessible to a wider readership."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Translator’s Note Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
1 Archaeology of the Work of Art Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 What Is the Act of Creation? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
3 The Inappropriable Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
4 What Is a Command? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
5 Capitalism as Religion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	66
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 104
Keywords: 21st century; philosophy; art theory; criticism; Heidegger; franciscan theory of poverty; etymological exploration

eBook

Published: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 9781503609273