The Third Person

by Roberto Esposito, Zakiya Hanafi (Translator)

All discourses aimed at asserting the value of human life as such―whether philosophical, ethical, or political―assume the notion of personhood as their indispensable point of departure. This is all the more true today. In bioethics, for example, Catholic and secular thinkers may disagree on what constitutes a person and its genesis, but they certainly agree on its decisive importance: human life is considered to be untouchable only when based on personhood. In the legal sphere as well the enjoyment of subjective rights continues to be increasingly linked to the qualification of personhood, which appears to be the only one capable of bridging the gap between human being and citizen, right and life, and soul and body opened up at the very origins of Western civilization. The radical and alarming thesis put forward in this book is that the notion of person is unable to bridge this gap because it is precisely what creates this breach. Its primary effect is to create a separation in both the human race and the individual between a rational, voluntary part endowed with particular value and another, purely biological part that is thrust by the first into the inferior dimension of the animal or the thing. In opposition to the performative power of the person, whose dual origins can be traced back to ancient Rome and Christianity, Esposito pursues his strikingly original and innovative philosophical inquiry by inviting reflection on the category of the impersonal: the third person, in removing itself from the exclusionary mechanism of the person, points toward the orginary unity of the living being.

Genres: Philosophy, Theory

200 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Roberto Esposito was born in Naples where he graduated at University of Naples 'Federico II'.
He is Vice Director of the Istituto Italiano di Scienze Umane, is Full Professor of Theoretical Philosophy and the coordinator of the doctoral programme in Philosophy.
For five years he was the only Italian member of the International Council of Scholars of the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris.
He was one of the founders of the European Political Lexicon Research Centre and the International Centre for a European Legal and Political Lexicon, which was established by a consortium made up of the Universities of Bologna, Florence, Padua, Salerno, Naples L'Orientale and Naples S. Orsola Benincasa.
He is co-editor of Filosofia Politica published by il Mulino, the 'Per la Storia della Filosofia Politica' series for publishers Franco Angeli, the series 'Storia e teoria politica' for publishers Bibliopolis and the series 'Comunità e Libertà' for Laterza.
He is editor of the 'Teoria e Oggetti' series published by Liguori and also acts as a philosophy consultant for publishers Einaudi.

Reviews

[Catalina Cabral Spuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Tercera persona" propone un recorrido crítico por la categoría de "persona", buscando desandar la equivalencia asumida entre existencia y existencia-personal. Partiendo del análisis de un presente en el que el alcance de los derechos humanos se revela insuficiente, Espósito asume la hipótesis de que esta crisis no se produce a pesar sino a partir de la categoría fundante de cualquier declaración de derechos, que es la de "persona". Después de revisar los orígenes de esta noción, se dispone a buscar una alternativa, y la encuentra justamente en la noción de "tercera persona" de Benveniste, que logra extrapolar luego a otros filósofos como Deleuze o Foucault.

[Jade Wootton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the discussion of more concrete topics (organ donations and what that means for the definition of “person,” Nazism and its effects on personhood, the specialized language of the concentration camps) better than its underdeveloped exploration of various philosophers and their work on the third person. In general, I think I just enjoy theory that feels rooted in the tangible rather than the philosophical though, so maybe that’s just me.

[Silvana Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

mostra como as categorias políticas de pessoa no Direito falharam em garantir os direitos humanos. Contundente e real.

[Nicole Elizabeth Davenport · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Persons and Things and the Dispositif of the Person by the same writer before reading the Third Person and it just felt like the ideas were repetitive. I would recommend reading Persons and Things rather than this book.

[Steen Ledet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Significant engagement with human rights, posthuman theory, animal studies, and even Deleuze's concept of the event. Feels stronger in the rights/animal studies field, though.