Terms of the Political: Community, Immunity, Biopolitics

by Roberto Esposito, Rhiannon Noel Welch (Translator), Vanessa Lemm (Introduction)

Terms of the Community, Immunity, Biopolitics presents a decade of thought about the origins and possibilities of political theory from one of contemporary Italy’s most prolific and engaging political theorists, Roberto Esposito. He has coined a number of critical concepts in current debates about the past, present, and future of biopolitics―from his work on the implications of the etymological and philosophical kinship of community (communitas) and immunity (immunitas) to his theorizations of the impolitical and the impersonal.

Taking on interlocutors from throughout the Western philosophical tradition, from Aristotle and Augustine to Weil, Arendt, Nancy, Foucault, and Agamben, Esposito announces the eclipse of a modern political lexicon―“freedom,” “democracy,” “sovereignty,” and “law”―that, in its attempt to protect human life, has so often produced its opposite (violence, melancholy, and death). Terms of the Political calls for the opening of political thought toward a resignification of these and other operative terms―such as “community,” “immunity,” “biopolitics,” and “the impersonal”―in ways that affirm rather than negate life.

An invaluable introduction to the breadth and rigor of Esposito’s thought, the book will also welcome readers already familiar with Esposito’s characteristic skill in overturning and breaking open the language of politics.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

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

[Baglan]

Such a great book that every time I look at my highlights from this book, I lose sense of time. Double-digit stars out of 5.

[Mar Machado]

Redell m’ha costat la vida

[Gatlin]

A professor of mine turned me on to this book by having us read chapters of it for his class. I pursued reading the rest of the book and found it extremely engaging. Esposito poses some real tough questions here and plays the role of a Derridean Political Theorist.

[Jelena]

After having read a lot of Agamben, not much of this mind-blowing... but a decent read nonetheless. I also really like the cover.