Thinking Without a Head
Studying Giorgio Agamben’s Phytological Machine
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3774703 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tyson E Lewis |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 89-107 |
| Publication date | 2020-11-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Angelaki (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0969-725X • E-ISSN: 1469-2899 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0969725x.2020.1838730 |
| OpenAlex | W3108931817 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
This article outlines three interlocking and mutually reinforcing registers in Giorgio Agamben’s work: the law, the apparatus, and the anthropological machine. While Agamben is clear that rules render inoperative laws and counter-apparatuses suspend the functioning of apparatuses, that which neutralizes the anthropological machine remains undisclosed. To explore this messianic opening, the author moves beyond Agamben and posits the possibility of a shift from an anthropological machine to a phytological machine. Whereas the former functions through the production of binary oppositions that divide life from its form, the latter yields to the internally generative potentiality of lifeforms. In conclusion, the article proposes an alternative reading of several of Agamben’s key examples, including his references to Tiananmen Square, as manifestations of a phytological machine emerging from within the composting of anthropological divisions
Aesthetics · Binary opposition · Computer security · Epistemology · Generative grammar · Head (geology · Key (lock · Linguistics · Reading (process · Sociology · Computer Science · Global Security and Public Health · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|