What Is Philosophy?

Giorgio Agamben

Published by Stanford University Press 2017

What Is Philosophy?

Giorgio Agamben
Translated by: Lorenzo Chiesa

In the series Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503604056

Overview
Contents

About this book

In attempting to answer the question posed by this book's title, Giorgio Agamben does not address the idea of philosophy itself. Rather, he turns to the apparently most insignificant of its components: the phonemes, letters, syllables, and words that come together to make up the phrases and ideas of philosophical discourse. A summa, of sorts, of Agamben's thought, the book consists of five essays on five emblematic topics: the Voice, the Sayable, the Demand, the Proem, and the Muse. In keeping with the author's trademark methodology, each essay weaves together archaeological and theoretical investigations: to a patient reconstruction of how the concept of language was invented there corresponds an attempt to restore thought to its place within the voice; to an unusual interpretation of the Platonic Idea corresponds a lucid analysis of the relationship between philosophy and science, and of the crisis that both are undergoing today. In the end, there is no universal answer to what is an impossible or inexhaustible question, and philosophical writing—a problem Agamben has never ceased to grapple with—assumes the form of a prelude to a work that must remain unwritten.

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 The Mystery of Evil (2017).

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Translator’s Note Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Foreword Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Experimentum Vocis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
On the Concept of Demand Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
On the Sayable and the Idea Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
On Writing Proems Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
Appendix. The Supreme Music. Music and Politics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113

Language: English
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 136

eBook

Published: September 26, 2017
ISBN: 9781503604056