THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL MACHINE AND ITS REVERSAL

In this article, I shall outline a thought experiment aimed at reversing the relationship between bíos and zoē established by the anthropological machine. Giorgio Agamben resorts to the notion of "anthropological machine" to define the mechanism that produces the qualified life of human be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAngelaki : journal of theoretical humanities Vol. 29; no. 5; pp. 52 - 63
Main Author Piasentier, Marco
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.09.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Agamben
anthropological machine
biopolitics
Foucault
Heidegger
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Summary:In this article, I shall outline a thought experiment aimed at reversing the relationship between bíos and zoē established by the anthropological machine. Giorgio Agamben resorts to the notion of "anthropological machine" to define the mechanism that produces the qualified life of human beings (bíos), through the inclusive exclusion of their biological life (zoē). My experiment does not render the exclusionary logic of the anthropological machine inoperative, but reverses the hierarchy it establishes between bíos and zoē. The result is what I shall call the machine of biologism, or simply the biological machine. If the anthropological machine establishes its perimeters of exclusion/inclusion on the grounds of bíos, the biological machine resorts to zoē. Thus, the biological machine does not operate according to the anthropological difference, which deems the human being as essentially not an animal, but according to what I shall define as the biological difference.
ISSN:0969-725X
1469-2899
DOI:10.1080/0969725X.2024.2405301