Dis Sensus

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Transcript of Dis Sensus

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Also available om Continuum

Beng an Een Alain BadiouConons, Alain Badiou

Inne Though Alain Badiouog of Wor Alain BadiouTheore Wngs Alain BadiouTheo of he Subjec, Alain BadiouSeeng he Inbe, Michel Heny Aer Fnue Quentin Meillassouxme for Reouon, Antonio Negio of Aeshe, Jacques RanceThe Fe Senses, Michel SeesAr an Fear, Paul Viilioegae Hozon, Paul Viilio

FothcomingAhussers esson acques RaneChrones of Consensua mes Jacques RanceMaa,

Jacques Rance

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DISSENSUS

On Politics and Aesthetics

Jacques ancire

Steven Corcoan

·"cti

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nnm nn bng The Tower Buildng 80 Maiden Lne11 York Road Suite 704London SE1 7NX New York NY 10038

www connuumbooks com

©Jacques Rancire and Steven Corcoran, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publicaion may be reproduced or transmited in any form or by any means electronc or mechanical includingphotocopying recording or any inormaon storage or retrieval systemwithout prior permssion n writing rom he publishers

B by gng-nbcn

A caalogue record for hs book is avaiable rom the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1847064455

by ng gng-nbcn Rancire JacquesDissensus on politics and aesthetics Jacques Rancire edied and ranslatedby Steven Corcoran

p m

Includes indexISBN13 978184706-445-5ISBN10 18470644501 Poliical sciencePhosophy 2. Aesheics-Politica aspecsI. Corcoran Steve II le

JA71 R36 2010320.0 1dc22

Tpese by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd Chennai India

2009023696

Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, Bodmin andKing's Lynn

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Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Editos ntoduction

he eshe of o

Ten Theses on Politics 27

2 Does Democcy Men Something  4 5 

3 Who s the Subect of the Rights o Mn 62

 4  Communism Fom Actulity to nctulity  765 The People o the Mulitudes 84 

6 Biopoltics o Politics 91

7 Septembe  nd Aftewds A Ruptue in theSymbolic Ode 97 

8 Of W s the Supeme Fom of AdvncedPlutoctic Consensus 105

he o ofeshe

9 The Aestheic Revolution nd Its Outcomes 115

10 The Pdoxes of Politicl At 134 

11 The Politics of Liteue 152

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2 The Monument nd Its Condences; o Deleue nd AtsCpcity of Resistnce 169

13 The Ethicl of Aesthetics nd Politics 184

espse o

4 The Use of Distinctions

Notes

ndex

20

219

227

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Acknowledgements

A numbe of the aticles inclue in this collection have aleay appeaein English. I consulte the tanslation o 'Ten Theses on Politics by 

Davie Panaga an Rachel Bowlby which st appeae in the online oual Theo and Event 3 (200) an emain inebte to hei wok;Does Democacy Mean Somehing st appeae in the collecionAdieu Derrida (e Costas Douinas Lonon Palgave Macmillan 2007)an has been extensively ewoke hee as has he essay Who is theSubec of the Rghts of Man s publishe in South Atlantic Quarterly103 (2004) pp 29730 Thanks ae also ue to Kheya Bag o pemission to epint a slightly moie vesion of The Aesheic Revolution

an its Outcomes Emploments of Autonomy an Heteonomy initially publishe in e Review (vol 14, 2002) The Poliics of Liteatuewas st publshe in SubStance (2004), pp 1024 Lastly consuleean-Philippe Deantys tanslation of The Ehical n in Aestheicsan Politics publishe in Critical Horizons 7 (2006), pp 20 Howevethe vesion of it that appeas hee is taken fom my anslaion o Rancies Aesthe and Disnten (Lonon Polity 2009) pp 0932,epinte wth the kin pemssion of Saah Dogson at Poliy Pess an

Joanna Delome at GalileI woul like to thank all those who helpe with this poect: Aulie

Mauin fo he vivi iscussions of Fench linguisic subtleties Gene Ray an Ela Lapiot fo thei helpful comments on the English anslationan incisive theoetical emaks; an Saah Campbell an m Cck aPoty who showe immense patience an encouagemen; an lasly my thanks go o Jacques Rancie o his gacousness an supt thoughoutevey sage o the pocess

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Editor's Introduction

What is politics? What is art? And how are we to conceive of their intimate and attested interrelation? There are a least two ways o approaching these questions. First, art and politics qua singular domainsof human thought and activity, can be taken as two separae realities,each with its own principle of realization. Poliics is so consrued for example whenever it is dened as a specic form o he exercse o

wer and its mode of legitimation; so too is art when dened inmodeist or postmodeist terms on the basis o the ways in whichaesthetic specicty has been gradually won by a liberaion from theimperatives of mimetic logic.1 From this perspective the question thenarises as to whether these two separae realities can be placed in relationto one another and if so under what conditions it ought to happenConversely however, art and politics can be understood such that their specicity is seen to reside in their contingent suspension of the rules

goveing normal expeience. On this view their emergence is n noway a necessary outcome of a property that is supposedly inherent o thelife of individuals or communities. It depends on an innovative leap romthe logic that ordinarily goves human situaions. In characteizing politics and aesthetics as forms of  dissensus Rancire seeks to defend avesion of this latter alteative His most general thesis is that whathese activities do each in their own way is to effect a redisribution o the sensible that is of the ways in which human communities are 'spon

taneously counted as wholes dvisible into their constituive pars andfunctions. For Rancire genuine poliical or artistic activiies alwaysinvolve forms of innovation that tear bodies from their assigned placesand ree speech and expression from all reduction to unctionality. They 

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re orms o cretion t are irreducible to te sptio-temporl orizonsof given fctul community In oter words, e disruption tt ey effect is no simply reordering o te reltions of power between exist

ing groups; dissensus is not n insitutionl overtuing It is n ctivity tt cuts cross forms of culturl nd idenity belonging nd ierrcies between discourses nd genres, working o introduce new subjects ndeterogeneous objecs nto te eld of perception. And s bot ctivitiesccording to Rncire ve to do wit reorienting generl perceptulspce nd disrupting forms o belonging teir interreltion is not question tt needs sking. can be sown tt politics s n inerently estetic dimension nd esetics n inerently politicl one

Rncire o course is not e rst to rgue tt te singulrity of tesecivities lies in teir rdicl cllenge to te norml socil distribution.Wt is unique bout is teoriztion owever, is how e conceives of tis logic o disruption s process of equlity nd consequently lso tewy e is ble to nlyze te complicted intertwinings of tese two formso exceptionlity. If forms o dissensus re irreducible to te objectivity of te sitution, i is by viue of wt Rncire refers to s teir forms of egalitarian suspension of te nol count o te socil order. As stted

te nodl point round wic bot ctivities revolve nd wic ensuresteir inerrelion is tt bot re orms of dissensus First ten it pyso exmine te logic of consensus tt every dissensus works to disrupt

Consensus s Rncire undersnds it is dened by te ide of teproper and te distribution o plces of te proper nd improper itimplies Tis logic is in is view te spontneous logic underlying every ierrcy: it is te very ide o te difference between te proper ndte improper t serves to seprte out e politicl rom e socil rtfrom culture culture from commerce nd tt denes ierrcicldistribuions were everyones speec is determined in terms of teir proper plce nd teir civity in terms of its proper funcion witoutreminder t consiss in te mtcing of poeisis or wy of doing witan aisthes or orizon o fecs Te essence of consensus en is tesupposition o n identiy between sense nd sense between fct ndis interpretion between speec nd its ccount between fctulstus nd n ssigntion o rigts etc.

By contrst, te logic of dissensus consists in te demonstrtion of  certin improprie wic disrupts te identity nd revels te gp

 between poeis nd athesis Te logic underlying tese prctices is mterilist nd nti-essentilist one. Politics is process claims Rncire

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EDITOR' INTRODtON

tht simultneously denies every foundtion on which it might come oform the positivity of sphere or purity. As we shll see throughou theessys in this book, the bsic logic of this fom o innovtion gins the

dicttes of hierrchy nd the policing of domins is prdoxicl onewhich cn be simply stted s A lwys consists in bluring the boundries between A nd nonA Politics then insted of consisting in n ctivity whose principle seprtes its domin out rom he socil is n civity tht consists only in blurring the boundries beween wht is consideredpoliticl nd wht is considered proper to the domin o socil or privtelife (As we shll see the sme logic is used to mke sense o the singulrity of t) But we re fr  here from the motto ccording o which

eveything is politicl including esthetic selffshioning. Precisely, if everything is politicl hen nothing is Similrly the concept of 'thepolitics of rt is not nother version of engged or citicl rt ny morethn it is of 't for rts ske. As Rncire never tires o reiering rnd politics only ever consis in he of equlity th they stge inthe plots which these specic prctices of blurring enil. And the uniquenture of these efects, which re irreducible to the norml cuse ndeffect reltions tht gove ordinry experience, mens tht politics nd

rt cnnot hrbour within them the integrlly relizble principle o newsocil order (by the sme token however nor do they exis totlly prfrom it in their ow resplendent brillince which s he points out lwysmounts to bsing these ctivities on the very distinctions ht they effectively cll into question) There is thus ne line between Rnciresconception of rt nd politics nd ny strightforwrd identition of this prctice of blurring with ides of rt becoming life or everything isliticl Since to reduce them thus, to wn to mke poliics nd rt dispper s singulr processes is to miss the singulr effecs tht they bring bout nd to retu them to the logic of consensus. Ar cn never becomelife except by being tued into the insrument of hose who wn omould new socil ethos; nd implementing emncipion will lwysovertu into form of societl mngement by 'enlightened experts.The ground cn then only ever be ripe for forms o disppointmen thtinterpre the drem of emnciption s the root cuse of the injusticesrtrted by those sme experts Rnres work hs believe enbledus to see more erly thn ever th nothig is more fvourble o the estblished powes thn the loss of the hough nd prcice of emnciption.

Wht is further unique bout Rncires philosophicl enterprise is hewy tht he tempts o introduce he eglitrin effects o politicl nd

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rsc ction into the re of theory itse Indeed philosophy for Rnremit similrly be construed s contingent nd no less cretive prcticetht works t higher level o condenstion to level out discursive hier

rchies by efecting n egatarian disruption o the previling ctegoriesgoveing perception nd ction As result for ll his insistence on

 blurring boundries Rncres own prctice of theoriing ought to bedistnguished from the sorts of interdiscplinrity nd theoreticl devlution of universlity oten ssocted with soclled postmode theoryThe singulr insnces of equlity in politics nd rt provide Rncrewith normtive points from which to critique presentdy understndings of politics nd rt As the present collection relects Rnres

theoreticl pprus itsel is nothing if not gered to inteening in thepresent Written between 1996 nd 2004 the texts included comprisesome of his most stimulting nd provoctive essys touching on diversepolitil esthetic nd philosophicl questions o our tmes from th sttusof theory nd questions of progress nd modeity to the demise of eglitrin politics nd the shrinking politicl spce, from the overtuing of the emnciptory promise of esthetic experience ino rtistic prctices of restoring the socil bond nd testifying to n immemoril liention not

to mention the consensus on the necessity of the world cpitlist economy nd the ste focus on security In so doing he engges with diverserry o thinkers from Hnnh Arendt to Gioio Agmben including Jcques Derrid, Antonio Negri, en-Frncois Lyotrd nd Alin Bdioumong others These essys contin ides nd concepts tht hve oftenlredy been treted n detil in booklength works2 At the sme timehowever, they revel new spects of these ides nd ncepts s Rncrestkes his ght o dferen fronts or moves to new lndscpes tht throwup new pths or obscles, n oblige refrming of the plots tht heproposes for mpping our poliicl nd ristic present.

THE AESTHETICS OF POLCS

The present-dy crcumscription of politicl ctivity we know, is everywhere permeed nd suffocted by the notion of consensus By restorng the rdicl dimension o politicl ppering nd its effects o equlityRncires concept of the esthetics of politics provides one of the bestcontemporry nidotes to this most fshionble of ideologicl notions

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EDIR INTRODION

In this vein then Ill sy ew introductory words bou Rncires conception of poltics nd his critique of the police notion of consensus

Let us begin with the expresson consensus democrcy is noion

s Rncire implcbly demonstrtes tht mens fr more thn the dvoccy o discussion nd preference for socil nd politicl pece to whichone seeks to reduce it Wht it essentilly stes is tht the experience of the socil order is common nd nonlitigious one A consensul vision of poltics lwys involves n ttempt to dene the preconditions h determine politicl choice s objective nd univocl. Such n experience cntke mny forms it cn be 'grounded in the ncient order of the divisionsof socety or cn tke on is current shpe s the ide tht politil cion

is crcumscribed by series of ows of welth popultions opinions ndgeo-strtegic forces Needless to sy the logic of consensus is mjor feture of the conemporry mngeril stte. In its current form he consensul vision of politics involves two bsic opertions t operion htreduces the people s politicl subjec o the popultion th is o sociologicl tegory decomposble into its constituent empiricl cegoriesnd second the trnsformion of politics ino the ffir o professonllitins nd their expers in govement whose rrogted funcion is to

rbitrte the residul nd mrginl possibiliies tht the objectivity of hesituion permits. Todys worker precisely is not poliicl subjec struggling for equlity; he/she is worker who hs rights only insofr s heserights ccord with the fcul sttus of the funcion performed righswhich must be continully eten wy t to 'ensure job protecion htis so long s the objecivity o the stution permits it those who then flloutside of the preserve of worker identity (the unemployed illegl immigrnts etc.) re no longer exuded they re simply drop outs.

Construed s n equlitrin chllenge to the norml socl disributionhowever politics is precisely n ctivity tht overtus every suchreduction of the people to the popultion nd of politics to n fir ogovernment While s stted every hierrchicl order ultimtely resson logc of the proper tht works to seprte out diferent dominsnd to llocte different shres to groups bsed on the supposed propriety of their plce nd function of their ctivity dissensus is bsed on logic of equlity tht revels the rbirriness of ht disribution or politicl priciion nd rtistic prctice.

Exmples of politics in Rncires sense strech from the invention o the demos in Ancient Greece to the Est Germn crowds crying  We are the

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peop agains her sas incoporaon The eaue ha nds al hedivese hsorical insances o polics, is ha conces a parcula kindo speech siuaion consiss i he oen shorived momen when

hose who are euded ro he poiica ode o uded in i in asordinae way, and up and speak or hemselves Ths speech siaon is aways a lgous one insoar as i s mainained ha conray ohe juscaons or manainng hierarchical order no reasons es haca jusy ecudig anyone rom he orde o speech s ligos insoa a dispues as aseless he eenson o he pedcaes ha deneshe poiiy o some and reegaes ohes o he obscuriy o he meey gven s igious insoar as eues he orms o deicaion and

 eong ha wok o manan he sas qo and, hogh a violely poeic displacemen o he pevalng elaions o speech, nrodces asupplemenary speech ha is iredcile o he conrains o social placeThs is pesely wha neeenhcenury wokes ad women did rogha pocess o erainsiona iigao They enaced he righs hahey were gaaneed y he consuon wee denied by he cosains o he orde As Rancire pus i, hogh he ac o heir speechhey showed ha hey had he ighs ha hey had no and did o have

he rghs ha hey had Though such cams no always e seen or heard poliics is eecive wheneve does manage o ring aoua gloa change in he ercepion o soal space hrough hi pay o iigaon Poics or Rae is always aeshec is hs asic sese  he nsss on he aeshec dmesio o poiics, hen, his inssence so be goosly dsnguished om noions involving he applicaion o ceria o eay o oms o ahoarian powe ha Wale Bejamnaimed a under he concep o he aeshecizaon o poliics

The logc ha his poics o egaliarian iigaion enais is a paadocal oc o he singla iversa Agans he paricla poweneesso he lng elie and oms o privaizaon o speech, poical speechas Zzek ps i nvolves a local nsance ha acs as a sandn o henivesal consiss in a conc bewee he sucued socia body whee each pa has is pace and he •pa wh no pa" which unsele oder on aoun o he empy pncipe o unversalyhe pncipedequaly o al qua speakng engs' On hs basis Rancire is aso ale oshow ha he specc kind o conlic enailed in polica dissenss hasnohng o do wih he orms o sggle associaed wh he supposeddvide eween ried and enemy Ranean poiical dsensus is o a

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EDITOR INTRODCTION

reva o he duious Shmita noto that olis has to do whmakng a deiso o he enemy Poliis, or Ranire ees a breakwith he sesoy seevidee o the natural order that desines sei 

grous and indviduas o rule to puli or privae ie, and tha delineates betwee riend and eemy, by pinning bodes dow o a ertan me and spae, tha s y pnng ndividuals to spei odes nvesways o beng, seeg and saying egeders new subjets, ew orms o olletve euiao Ad as the priniple o this innovatve reak isthe paradoal presupposio o equaliy, it is smultaneously an atvy whh all an partake, rrespetive o the haratests deningoes eing in the situaton n queso

A the osesual posig o a mmo and otious eeriee he suplement o poli demonstraes presely, thatthe oal, i sense is not. itroues a suppemen ito he soia order that severs heobjevit o he stuao om its aunt, that ores the wihdrawalo eve idea ha those who le have a dsposion or e to do so other word he egaltaan eet o oli showg that he unouedao parake o polil seeh, reounds on he order o eed tiles andsuposed dostions tha a sg up soal spae shows tha he

t o rulg ot udeed y a order o reasons Wha undeins herue o some is oy ha at that they ule, eneah whi here othgbut he te o the equalt o see ad us o he paty or po whi i ise eogs o ad o oe i aar The dssesus by whi he ivisile equat subtend soal dison is made vise,and the iaudibe seeh o those rejeed ito he obsure igh o sleneaude thereby enas a dierent hang o he sensle

Fuher, as Ranire sees t, the poitial stagg o equality aso always

severs he a o he oal order rom he heoreial aouns gve oha order showg hat here s o order o reasos udeinnng thesoial order o dominato, t dsups the gesure o omiity betweenheory and he oligarhi soia order the elis gesture wherey theprivege o though s reseved o the ew and the vast majoriy arebanshed o shadowy slee or hoae oise hs upure is oe whoseonsequenes Ranre has aways stved to iororate ino heorealrae (we ome o hs pon agan eow) suh, his praie o hinkng has pted hm agains two mas ros he rs, o whih heamous Marst theos ous Athusser is a me eample sets t againstal sieti atemts to know the uh o he masses3 n Ahusserian

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tes, ths was atulate the wellow stto betwee set eeavou a eologal ystato. I otast to the laguageof the asses, eologally yste by vtue of the (feo) plae

the soal oe, the see of the telletual s that whh eables h/he to se the tue oto o the asses Ths fae of aalyss,foge by oe of Maxs's ost aal theoetas, was tself to beovetue the upeeete uo of elletual otestato awoe's stuggles hat opse May  1968 The shop loo easfo woes' otol fo exaple, esape the exstg fos fo epesetato, whh wee geae towas egotato at the top, betweepaty a uo stutues Not oly wee suh las stutually 

exlue fo exstg stutues of ouato', but they showethat, otay to the Althussea set Maxst, the asses o otee to be tol about he easos fo the oato thee ae oeasos apat fo oato, a wha s athe at stae s the belef  beg able o hage that oe Fo ay of those who, le Rae,wee atve May  1968, what appeae wth stg laty s thapoltal easo s o soethg that ous beh the bas of theasses; stea, the oveets of polts ee to be oeve o the

bass of the effets of the ow wos a atos Poltal thought sot that whh s pefoe taseet fasho by the telletualwho eas ulue fo ts sgs of tuth, but as that whh s poueaetly by the olletve of those egage poltal ato

If May 1968 supte the g statato of the oe of speeh aput pa to theoeal elts, he ths s beause t showe that thewog lass whh ths theoy ha appopate fo tself, a the subsequet elaboato of s theoetal tas, was oe about shog up a

plae fo theoy tselfThe seo ajo fot of Rae's stategy oes the oe pag-

at, lbeal atteps to eleate the pefoatve speeh otosfo polts The Habeasa shea fo exaple supposes that theeexst a po pagat osats that etee that the vey log of aguetave exhage. It supposes that teloutos ae oblge toegage a elato of utual opeheso, falg whh they eteto a pefoatve otato a lose he selfoheee Now thslog pesupposes pesely that the exstee of the teloutos speestablshe Agast Habeas, howeve, Rae ephaszes thefat that geue poltal speeh above all etals a spute ove the vey 

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EDITOR INTRODION

qualy of hose who speak. Rancres arguen n fac unernes allaeps o euce a for of polcal raonaly ro a suppose essenceof language or acvy of councaon Polcal sruggle proper s

herefore no a aer of raonal ebae beween ulple neress; sabove all, a sruggle o have one's voce hear an oneself recognzeas a legae parner ebae Conversely he os eleenary gesure of epolczaon s always o squaly he polcal qualy of hespeech of hose who argue eonsrae her equaly

Rancre's unque syle of polcal crque s base n wha he see ashe funaenal oscllaon beween he prvazaon of speech n sruc-ures of power an s sncooraon hrough he acves of polcal

subjecs. Unerpnnng hs oscllaon, n Rancre's vew, s he unaenal presupposon of he equaly of nellgences Equaly here sno an essence, a value, or a goal s a presupposon of heory anpracce, bu has no nheren conen nor specc graar of s own.Inee, suppors pracces of equaly only nsofar as s he savowepresupposon for he proper funconng o power self I s he laenenal nvolve n akng he effecs o hs presupposon as far aspossble whch fors he conon of possbly of polcs. In oher 

wors, f s possble for a polcal suppleen o eerge ha srupshe socal orer base on nohng bu he presupposon o equaly, hss because he negalaran orer self always alreay presupposes heequaly of nvuals as speakng bengs n s unconng.4 The polcalreenacen of equaly can only eerge because of he nevableconracons of a socal orer whch presupposes equaly bu sula-neously savows

The presupposon of equalyhen, s an epy presupposon or 

vo he sense ha, whle n every orer only soe are coune asbeng equals aong equals, an as capable of socal sncon, he ohers fro who hey are supposely snc, are always alreay ncluen ha equaly precsely because no socal or bologcal ra ever exclues he fro enacng . Moreover, f Rancre connually ephaszes he chancelke naure o polcs agans all he aeps oexplan polcal evens by referrng o unerlyng causes, s becausenothing explans why people ece o rse up an eonsrae her equaly wh hose who rule Equaly ha s s only ever he preserveof hose who ece o inlude themselves out Whch s o say ha every polcal oen nvolves he ncalculable leap of hose who ece o

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deonsae hei equaliy and oganize hei efusal agains he injusices ha pooe he saus quo

The s essay o his collecion, Ten heses on Poliics', siulaneously copises Rancies os succinc e on his logic of poliics and heaesheics i iplies and a poined inevenion ino pesenday  doxaabou he naue of poliics. His siden oulaions disinguish hiboh o libeal clais, ade ae he deise of he Sovie Union,abou he eu of poliics', as well as fo elancholic clais o heend of poliics'  qua eancipaoy pojec ha is, in boh cases, oclais ha uliaely wok o ake a adical disincion beween he

social and poliics, which, localized in he sae, uliaely ges educedo he suggle o and ainaining of powe.

The eaining essays o his secion, saing wih his eulogy o JacquesDeida, Does Deocacy Mean Soehing?, illusae vaiou! aspecsof he Ten Theses. ike Rancie, Deida se foh an aleae idea of deocacy his uchdiscussed democratocome o he hegeonic aeps of he new 990s wold ode o insiuonalize i o usup isnae Whee Rancie does so by ephasizing poliical subjecivaion,

howeve, Deida ies o open up his gap hough he caegoy of heOhe. He hus ends up ying eancipaion no o he aciviy of a subjecenacing he egaliaian ai here and n, i.e o poliical acti bu o anehical aiude o innie espec fo oheess. Rane agues ha hiseeplay  ubtantialization of he ohe, which shifs he ephasisdecisively o poliical demontration which inscibes a multiplci of fos of oheess in suppleen o he body of he couniy o aanscendenal hoizon ha neve aives, is a hallak of he conepoay ehical end. Wha is oe, caugh in he necessiy o havng hus oavoid all peepive idenicaions o a paicula even o ohe wihhe Ohe as such, Deida uliaely disisses poliil speech and isveicaion o cases o univesaliy diveing i fo he bene of a heoy ha us coninuously deconsuc he occuence of any acual ohe.

The ne essay, Who is he Subjec of he Righs of Man?' looksoe closely a he opeaive caegoies o poliical subjecivaion in heode age o huan ighs. The queson of who, an o he ciizen, ishe subjec of huan ighs, was evived again afe he collapse of heSovie Union in he 990s Agains he backgound of he iuphaliso libeal deocacy, he ecepion o he consensus appeaed in heo of enophobic and naionals oveens, since, nowihsanding

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EDIR INTRODCTION

he replsve deas hey espose and acs hey sancon, hey aloneseemed o nss on he need for collecve acon on major naonal andneaonal sses hs s her pon of srengh Despe s apparen

heerogeney o he sysem of consenss however hs appearance s nfac par and parcel of a phenomenon ha he sysem denonces bs smlaneosly complc n prodcng

Rancre locaes hs developmen agans he backgrond of he demseof polcal dssenss or lefs forms o polcal conscosness ha hasaken place over he las hry years Whle he paradoxcal relaonshp of parakng has always aken place n he nerval beeen man and czen,he demse of he selfevdence of polcal lgaon has made possble or 

he nerval of he polcal sbjec o no an nerval beween wodsnc grops czens who possess rghs by vre of belongng o asae, on he one hand, and he masses of rghless men who smply allosde of he happy crcle of sae and rgh, on he oher

I s smlarly agans hs backgrond ha pays o locae Agambenshess accordng o whch he camp s he nomos o modey n whchhe excepon ends o become he rle Wha Agamben als o ake noaccon s he rary of polcal sbjecvaon he way n whch appears

and vanshes Ths dong, he ends o analyse he conjncon, n he990s, of srenghenng lberal dscorse and he rse o xenophobc andras phenomena as he hsorcal resl of an nderlyng onologcalprocess, raher as havng been faclaed by a weakenng o polcs properAnd ha he does so n akng Arends depolcsng archpolcal dsnc-on beween polcs and he socal as a sarng pon s sgncanRancre shows ha he effor s doomed from he ose, ha s nopossble o escape he rgd dsncon beween he polcal and he socal

(Arend) merely by arclang he wo sdes of he bnary o reveal her zone of ndsceably (Agamben) The psho can self only be depolczng on Agambens vew he rghless of he Naz camps and of hedeporaon zones of or lberal democraces alke o menon only hose,are smply poor nfornaes cagh n a sae of excepon beyondoppresson, whch s o say beyond any accon n erms of democracy or andemocracy, jsce or njsce They are smply par of an nder-enaed, global onologcal saon from whch only a God cold saves Agans Agamben, Rancre nsss on he possbly and herefore henecessy of acconng for hese saons n sch erms

Along wh Agambens onologzng o he excepon anoher key operaor of wha Rancre calls he ehcal of polcs s he radlzaon

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o poliil wong, whose eec on he naaive o emancipaion is plainesill Whehe saed in he language o Geoge Bush o he philosophicalenepise o a Lyoad, he oveall esul in he same: he muliplicy o 

liigious agumens ha aim o ovecome injusice by demonsaing hepa o hose wih no pa is swep aside; and injusice sas o appea asan absolue and iemediable evil agains which he poliician will unde-ake a mission o innie jusice and he philosophe exho us o heinnie duy o esising he inhuman, which is nohing ohe han heineminably pescibed duy o beaing winess o ou denden onhe Ohe. The naaive o he philosophe, a om he end o GandNaaives, consiss in a new om o naaive ha pemis he philoso

phe o accoun ad innim o he essenial eason o evey hisoicalwong aims o dispense wh he mulipliciy o ways ha poliicalsubjecs open gaps in he abic o he visible and he sayable in avou o an oveaching ehical discouse ha denounces evey aemp a emancipaion in advance An amaive excepion o his iumphan chouso libeal democacy and sombe accouns ou o desiny ae he aempso ehink he acualiy o communism o he pesen conjuncueHoweve, Rancie singles ou he evivals he Maxian concepion o 

communism, noably in he wok o Michael Had and Anonio Negi,wih hei inluenial concep o he muliudes and phenomenolocaldescipion o he aniglobalizaion movemens. n Communism: FomAcualiy o Inacualiy, Rancie quesions he validiy o he pesupposiion on which he adiional idea o communism's acualiy is basedHs aim is ha i involves a om o he onologzaion o equaliy omwhich viewpoin anyhing sho o he ull implemenaion o he collecive inelligence is ulimaely dismissed as mee appeaance This idea o he acualiy o communism and poliical subjeciviy wans o open upoom o a new poliical voices, bu does so only by poeing a new omo consensus he coming o he ue communiy n sho, he sikingnovely o Rane's posiion on communism, which many ohodoxMaxiss will no doub nd unaccepable, is ha o hink he maniesa-on o poliical equaliy hee is no need o onologize i as a supposedcollecive we o poducon ha is always already a wok in he omso capialis dominaion and ap o explode hem. His aesing evesalsaes, quie o he conay, ha such maniesaions o equaliy alwaysoccu aeards as aemps o expand he domain o univesaliy, oecongue is objecs and epopulae is subjecs Failing o do so, he

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EDITOR INTRODCTION

aes sks consng the vertable os o poltcal eancpaton wththe captalst ors that they nterpt

he next two chapters are ntervews condcted by the Delezan

 joal Multudes Both toch on rval attepts to conceve he basc tendences and lnes o ght o the crrent world order he rs dealsagan wth the abovementoned attept by Hardt and Negr to concepalze the world order and the antglobalzaton oveents, and bearsspecally on the derences between Rancres noton o the people andthe concept o the lttdes as ways o dealng wth these phenoenahe send deals wth crent ses o the noton o bopoltcs as a way o theorzng radcal poltcal and atstc practces and ts plcatons or 

nceptalzng poltcal sbjecvty Rancre shows that the ontologcaldstnctons clamed by the concepts o bopoltcs and the lttdes,nsoar as they copse deas o poltcal sbjectvaton, end p dsssngdssenss by dssolvng ts ltple nstances n he law o  a global staton hs occrs ether n etapoltcal ashon by swchng scenes, that sby reerrng the ltple stagngs o poltcal dssenss back to the nqesne o Epre vs the lttdes, or, agan, n archpoltcal ashon, by dssolvng the relaton between soveregnty and bare le

he last essays o ths secton t towards specc occences o geo-poltcal sgncance he rst, Septeber  and Aterwards: A Rptren the Sybolc Order?, exanes the overwhelngly consensal reacton to the Septeber  terorst attacks on the n owers Ater theattacks all knds o stpdtes were ttered: ro nave argents abotthe destrcton o sybols o power and the desre or world hegeony,to proclaatons abot the eracton o a nonsybolzable real nAercan sybolzatons o togetheess, to notons that the representa

tves o the other world, that o tradtonal sybolc order, had retedwth volent orce as to rend s o the pce to pay or or wesolles, whch agne that tradtonal relatonshps can be sply overted at wll Rancre's analyss here s rght on target: there was norptre, no dssenss ndeed, no only dd he US governent have thewords on hand to captre the events, bt they dd so n perect deny wth the prncple o ther attackers: that o the everlastng ght agansgood and evl I Septeber  dd tell s soethng abot the worldwe lve n, t was not de to any alteraton o the relatons between thesybolc and the real categores whose pernence or nderstandngsch events Rancre pts nto qeston nsead, the rptre to whch

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ths evet esties had alread ake place wh the shi fro deocratc dssesus to the consensual, ehical u of potics n oher wordswha happened on Sepeber  11 is that it reveaed the uter weakness

of the lef which copleely ssed a chance o forulate a polcalaeaive to the ethical dscourse of the war on eror

n he ext essa on War as the Supree For of Advanced Plutocratic Cosensus Rancire lnks together the neolibera prooton of the freedo of the coodit o a shift in he for of sate consensusfro one involving arbiration to one hat focuses increasng o pracices of securty that s he links shits in the ecooy to shifts in forsof goveance But what are we o ake of this inerrelation Usua 

descrpons of ths interrelaon as the gloal goveent of capital,truphan ass deocrac or soft totalitarianis posi that coteporar odes of goveance are attutable to changes n the globa econo The odeit of one prescribes the odei of the oherHowever an analsis of he raq war with is sange ixture of sophsticated technological weaponr and relgiosit, of he new and he od,quil counterands such descripos What es ehnd he recourseto he 'archaic fors of propaganda used o ustfy the raq war is a for

of consensus tha eschews radtional state funcions of he re-distributionof weath and he consructon of fors of social solidari n favour of asboaon of he collective as a people united b coon values andunder attack o nexplicable evil To denounce this as ere deology working o cover over the stain of ecooic interests s to iss a crucialpon No doubt he anpulaion of the frightened colectve of citenshuddled around the consensual warrior state awas been the est forof collective for a state based essenially on prooting he unbridled reignof the coodty But the parculariy of his eaple of the iliary expor of lberal deocrac resdes precisely n he auono of ts pncipe with respect to al explanaons ters of econoics or echnoogThis princple Rancire argues is that of  inse The os advancedfor of he conteporar consensual state is that whch requres the generation of new situatons of nsecurit to enforce is goveance

THE POCS OF AESTHETCS

n the face of such ogarchic donaion ars power of ransforaive adcreative acon wll also surey be ke to altering the real of he possile

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EDITOR' INTRODON

At a s eve hen we can see tha Raes conceptualiaon of aand pcs as fos of dssensual acviy ais pecise to captue theo natue of the novative potenl o dsup fos of doina

on deed since is eegence as a doain of singula epeience aoundthe e of the Fen Revoluon sepaate o he scues of adonand he unpeded dicates of oigay at has always been nnected tohe poise of new wod of at and a ew fe fo indviduals and he coui What Rae in fac shows is that he feedo of he aesthec as sepaae sphee of epeience o appeaace  ased upon he saepipe of equal tha is enacted in poical deonsao This is ke o concept of the poli of aeshetcs But what does ean to talk about

equali vis-vis astic pacce and aesthetic epeienceTo undesand this it pas o ecal tha Rane dstnguishes between

thee egies of a only the thid of whch is popely speaking to beassociaed with the knd of innovatio actvity efeed to above n hes, he ethcal ee, woks of at have no autonoy They ae viewedas ages to be quesoned fo he tuth and fo the effect on the ehosof individuals and the comunty Ranes standad efeence fo thisegie is Patos Rublic he secod he epesenaive ege woks

of a elong to the sphee of itaton and so ae no longe subec to helaws of tuth o the coon ules of utii They ae not so uch copiesof eai as ways of iposing a fo on ate such, the ae suecto a set of ntinsc noms: a hieachy of genes adequaton betweenepessio and subect ate coespodences between he as, etcThe thid he aesthec ege ovehows ths omatvity and heelaionship beween fo ad ate on which it s based Hee atcoes to be dened as such, in s sngulait, as belonging o a spec sensoiu that fos an ecepton o the nomal egie of the sensible

the epesentative egie, Rae agues, the centality of action used the pimac of speech ove the iage while the paale betweensoal ad aeshec oligach was endeed in a seies of igid sepaaions between a foms Despite hese sic hieachica sepaaions a foswee commensuabe nsofa as they depiced acons: kowing whehe a ven fo of viuost was an at could be answeed by he question of whethe it tod a sto Eve awok had o have a naaive wth aoal sol and poli sgncance eled on a sste of eaningcented on the pia of acon wheen eaning was a eaon foone o anothe The ne ats wee so naed because the law of mimesdened the as a egulated elation between a wa of doing a poies

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an a way of being which is affecte by it an aisthes' The pleasueaffoe by this theefol elation contain in the atwok was the guaantee off 'human natue. But this natue was always split since the epe

sentative system was also one in which thene ats stinguishe people of ene sensibiliy as oppose to the coaseness o the masses. With theaesthetic egime this knot between poies an athesis is unone anhumanity is lost. But he loss bings with it a pomise of a new fom of iniviual an community lie At the same time at now aesses itselfat least in pinciple to the gae of anyone at all can be use by anyone tointevene in whateve situation. At in the aesthetic egime ns its only content pecisely in this pocess of unoing in opening up a gap between

poe an aisthes  between a way of oing an a hoion of affect.While this is a featue common to both at an politics the uptue is

pefome ifeently in each case. The ifeence is in no way an ontological one but instea esies in the iffeent pinples accoing towhich this seveing is opeate. While politics involves the open-ene setof pactices iven by the assumption of equality between any an evey speaking being an by the conce to test this equality that is the staging of a we hat sepaates the community fom itself aesthetic pouctions

ten to ene a el of subjective anonymity as a esult of intoung theegaliaian axiom into the moes of epesentation themselves

The signicance o the aesthetic egime an the politics it impliesemeges clealy in contast to he stictues of the epesentative egimeEach of thei sets of pinples contast iectly with one anothe. Thepimacy of action in he epesentative egime is oppose by the newpimacy of expressiveness in the aesthetic This expessiveness means thatlanguage o images o the wol ae now use as poetic powes an ensin themselves beyon any mimetic function. The hieachy of genes isepose insofa as the aesthetic egime assets the equal of al subeche once scanalous act that oinay things let alone the lowly peoplecan compise he main subjects of a book This in tu implies a thipinple: beyon the equality of subjects is the principle of inderenThe impeative of popiety of epesenting specic subjects in theappopiate fashion is unone by the aesthetic egimes insisence onthe inifeence of style in elation to epesente subject. Paaigmatic fo Rane hee is Flaubet who achieve an absolutiation of styleelative to the subject o athe by pesenting all things with the samecae mae style into the only tue subject of liteatue.

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EDITOR INTRODCTION

Now, the uniqueness o Rancires conceptuaition of art's specicity,as it eerges in the aestheic regie, is that i nds is generative dynaic in the nstutive and irresolvable contradicions between these prinples.

The rst such contradiction is that between total expressiveness and theprinciple of indifference While the rst establishes a substantial linbetween the ianent poeticity o the world and the artistic wor hee is the expression, at a higher power of concentration, of the eaningthat is already hat of the word itself he second rejects he substantiallin and denies that expression should be privileged in any ind of neces-sary way (soal or aesthetic) for any given topic The second eerges asan attept to deal wih this rst conradiction ying to produce an iden-

tity between the radical subjective freedo of he artist and the objectivenecessity of the world expressed in the wor, Roantis fails to osethe gap and is copelled to testify to the irreducible gap between thesensible and the intelligible, between things and words The deeper con-tradiction, then, is that between the principle of expressiveness (every-thing speas') and the principle of literariness'. This latter principle is theultiate consequence of the deise of the represenaive regie, whichplaced constraints on language and iage use through the rules of iesis

and tied the propriety o representation o the nors attached o socialhierarchy The principle of literariness refers to the freeing of language andrepresentation, such that that everyone and anyone is now entitled tointeene in any for of discourse, use or be addressed by any languageand be the subject o representation t reers to the availabiliy o heanonyous leter in a regie o unliited representability With thedestruction of the logic o the representative regie, not only are the socalseparations between indviduals underined, ontological disorder also

ensues all consraints are reoved conceing the very  oi of obeUltiately, the idea of silent speech goes further, then it points, beyondthe expressiveness of the silent thing, to the very ipossibility of yingspeech as suh to xed ontological distinctions between the ideal and thereal, the political and the social, ar and nonart, words and hings

In the new regie, the eld o experience, severed ro is tradiionalreferences points, is therefore open or new restructurings hroughthe free play' of aestheticization Since no preordered, pregiven structures are available anyore that would dene what can be said, in whatfor, in which language, using which iages, and to who art in theaesthetic regie' consists of always liited attepts or proposiions or 

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a local restructurig o the el o experiece. Aesheicize ar husoes ot always exist, but is oly ever the set of relatios that are tracehere a ow through sigular a precarious acts.

the rs essay o this sectio, e Aesthetic Revolutio a ts Out-comes', Racire explores the various plots hat have frame the attemptsat restucturig iiviual a llective lie i he moe era. Racire'sescriptio of wha he calls the aesthetic revolutio separates him bothfrom eeavours to give a accout of artisic purity that woul sever itfrom all compromise wih politics or commoity aestheticizatio, as wellas rom hose tha woul like to see the political promises of the aesthetic ullle His positio eschews the basis either for the pure autoomy or 

he sheer heteroomy of ar wih respec to politics or life. Racire'saeshetic heory uermies all the sociological attempts to refer the iifferece o aesthetic jugeme to he realiies of class struggle jus as itpresets a alteative to all he moeist a posmoeist theoriesthat ee the iferet art orms i terms of their selfliberaio from theimperatives of mimeic logic. Wheher oe siers Flauber's posture of ar for ar's sake Mallarm's coce wih ig the esseial laguageo poetry, Aoo's isistece o the selfcoaieess of the artwork, or 

Lyotar's assigig the avagare the task of isolatig ar from culuralema i the experiece of he sblime, all simultaeously lik heir respecive otios of autoomy with a coceptio of heeroomy.

The paraoxical basis or all these positios is give i Racire's origi-al reaig o Schiller's famous claim that the aesthetic will bear theeice of he ar of he beautiful an o the art of livig As Racire putsit The etire questio o the politics of aesthetics tus o his shorcojucio. The aesthetic experiece is efective iasmuch as it is theexperiece o tha an grous the autoomy or art to the extet thati coects i to the hope of chagig life". The prouctively ambiguousformula o this poliics is ar is a auoomous form [life'. this essaythe reaer will amire he ef ootwork with which Racire is able toavigate the twists a us his formula takes i multiple aristic projectsa aestheic theories, from Flaubert through the Sovie Costructivistsa toays relatioal ar from Schiller through Aoo a Lyotar.Each of these ositios ariculates a specic solutio to the relatiobetwee auoomy a heeroomy, a each solutio i tu geeratesits ow etropy, which, i u, gives rise to ew strategies for reframigthe ivisios of the orms of our experiece. Each reaig of this paraoxof art i he aestheic regime that ar is ar to the extet tha i is ot

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EDTOR INTRODON

hs is own 'meics, is ow wy of poposing o polii engemens of is spce o econguing s poliicl issue, o o sseing iself s ue poliics Key o his essy is he wy h Rne goes

gins he end cuen end insed of guing fo dicl eshei of he sublme ove nd gins n 'ideologicl eshei o he beuiful heoveus hings: he eshecs of he sublime isel culy seems o pesuppose he Schillein esheic pomise of which i is n inveed om

If consiss in emps o disub he boundy beween ndnon, he nex essy, The Pdoxes of Poliicl A dels pecisely wih cuen, divese isic emps o disub his boundy The i ishick ody wih clims h fe ime spen in he posmode

wildeess, hs 'eued o poliics Rncie inquies ino wh hesemen bou s eu o poliics give us o undesnd bou how is conceived is efccy nd ou hopes nd judgemens egding hepoliicl impo of isic pcice We know h in he esheic egime involves fom of esheic expeience h suspends he so of hiechicl elions implied in he ehicl nd epesenive egimesI fogoes ehicl immedicy nd epesenionl mediion inducing t beween he inenion of he is nd he oucome on he specos

 behviou beween cuse nd effec A, pecisely, cnno kn orantate he effec h is segies o subvesion my o my no hveon he foms of poliicl subjecivion A my cee new sceney of he visible nd new dmugy of he inelligible bu hese innovions wok o efme he wold of common expeience s he wold of  shed impesonl expeience And in his wy i helps o cee hefbic o common expeience in which new modes o consucing common objec nd new possibiiies of subjecive enunciion my  be developed h e chceisic of he 'esheics of poliics Thispoliics of esheics howeve, opees unde he condiions pescibed by n oiginl disjuncion I poduces effecs bu i does so on he bsisof n oiginl efec h implies he suspension of ny diec cuse effec elionship5 Howeve, he vious pcices h cn be subsumedunde he semen o s eu o poliics eschew pecisely hThese isic emps o 'go gins he gin which include pojecss divese s elionl s emp o esoe he socil bond in he ceof he omizing effecs of cpil nd emphsize he sense o king pin common wold o hose h seek o povide euge fo poliicldissensus s wy o counecing he shinking o poliicl spce she wo hings: s, cein consensul noion o eiy, o o he

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outside of at and second an idea of the ecacy of at itself of its powe to poduce efects outside itsel (mobilie people fo political causesceate a sense of ou being togethe etc.) n othe wods this etu to

politics is a fa cy om the type of atistic pactice that had been tofom the hinges of its specic and specialied ealm to keep apace withthe speed of eents in May  968 The etu to politics does not aim toachiee contempoaneousness with the pesent to exhot people tocontinue to uphold that untimely pesent and o wok though its effects but instead to set up a place o at as such The question is theefoe notas ancie notes whethe at should o not etu to politics but toanalyse the shift in atistic pactice in line with the shit fom dissensus

to consensus What does his latte shift mean fo atistic pactice todayWhat does aestheicied a do in imes o consensus The stuggle ittus out, is between wo oms of the politics of aesthetics attestable incuent atistic poduction one which ascibes the atwok an enigmatic powe, a resene tha has adical effects outside itsel and anothe thatinduces an aesthetic t to set up a disconnection between the poductionof  atistic saorfare and social destination between sensoy foms, thesignicaion that can be ead on them and thei possible effects

A simila point suctues The Politics o iteatue This syntagmancie maintains does not efe to the politics held by its autho butinstead to the way that liteaue does politics as liteatue. This politics isa conict within a specic system of the efcacy of wods between twoopposed ways o using wods o 'two politics o the mute lette": tha of liteainess on the one hand of the democatic chatteing of the lettethe lette withou maste to guide it hat speaks too much and to anyoneat all and on the othe that o the symptomatic eading the atempt todeciphe the mute meaning witen on the body o things which doesaway with the eil of his democatic disode ancies eading of thesetwo politics o liteatue eeals the pofound malaise affecting all hosescientic attempts to tell the 'uth about liteaue since it educesto eo the analytical alue of the supposed distinction between the discouse on liteatue and liteatue iself. A igoous undestanding of theconlict between the two politics of liteatue dispels st any notiono a tuth undelying lieatue; and second it shows hat the liteay 'politics o the mute lette poide the conditions of possibiliy o thescientic discouse on liteatue itself uturkrk to take one exampleis ultimately indisceible om the objects o its own analysis.

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EDITOR' INTRODCTION

Now, i thee is oe thig that Deleze was ot, is a ciical' poliical' o sociological' itepete o a o liteate. He does o developa epistemology o at o lie may ohes does he age tha the

cotadictio o liteate boils dow to the old illsio o misaig theitepetaio o lie o its tasomatio Deleze's eot i Qu esteque a hosohe is, ages Racie, o ty to ose the gap betwee atad politics alogethe stead o a disjcio thee is a idetiyDeleze's thesis is that a politics it is a thesis tha Racie's moedemocatic ad less aistocatic stace o aeshetics ad aiss msete i t is to stad. Delezias will o dobt potes agaist he chageso tascedece which Racie pis to his aeshetic theoy, bt it will

be hade o them to ovecome a cios thig, amely, he act thatLyotad's view o at while opposed to Deleze's i its coclsios, isdaw pehaps moe logically om the same pemises.

The al essay i this sectio themaizes a poit hat peppes may o the pevios essays, amely Racie's hesis that at ad politics oday ae aected by a ethical t. The pevailig discose o ethics is geeally see as a coective to the excesses o the aistic absolte addisases o visios o political topia a set o oms that sbmit poliics

ad at to the validity o thei piciples ad the coseqeces o thei pactices. The amilia list o categoies de which these aespposedly caied ot tama, teo, adical otheess, cosess, thehmaitaia, the epesetable, the sblime actally ma qie acotay tedecy amely, a collapse o the vey caegoies by whichomative jdgemets ad the aalysis o coseqeces is caied otThis essay povides oe o the most techat aalyses o the seies ochages that, ove the last thity ad moe yeas has aected aistic 

podctio ad political pacice, o to meio theoetical aalysis.Racie discsses a seies o plays, lms at exhibitios, political sate-mets ad theoetical posiios tha attest to a gap betwee two easHis diagosis is eqivocal: he postmode caival was basically oly eve a smoescee hidig the tasomatio ito ethics ad the pead simple ivesio o the pomise o emacipaio. Devoid o melacholy, howeve, Racie also taes eqal distace om the laeeligiosity o yesteday's modeist cocept o the te evolioay evet Agais evey idea o the evet' copled wth the idea o aiteal ecessiy, he assets the adical cotigecy, i poliics adaesthetics, o ssensus

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HE AESHEICS OF WRNG

wll nsh wh a ew rearks abo Rancre's own pracce o phloso-phy Ever snce hs rs work, a e Athusse, Rancre has se o oevelop a pracce o wng ha avos racal alk whch sply ensp provng he resoraon o he Acaec orer (noably aer May 968) wh even ore shaper heorecal weapons akng cognzanceo hs alre o heory parclarly noceable n Alhsser, Rancre hassrve o evelop a syle o phlosophzng ha cares he logc o s-senss ha ha been so vbran n he 60s an 70s over no crqe Inso ong he sances hsel ro wo oher prevalen oes o cqe. Fs, ro a herenecs o sspcon whch aeps o scea secre' hen beneah scorse sally a ark o onaon; ansecon, ro ro he ecosrcve oel o nenably ggnghrogh he sraa o eaphorcal eanng Insea o he vaos orso enncaon noraly assocae wh cqe, an he gres o asery ha nerle he oral gae o concepal sncon as chas s econsrcon, Rancre srves o evelop a way o phlosophsngha gh sel be characerze as a ssensal acvy.

For Rancre hs enals ha phlosophy, as ch as polcs or a, alsoncorporae he paraocal prncple o eqaly no s operaons, ha phol hese nsances o scorse an carry her eecs o eqaly or nonasery over no concepalzaon. B hs eaely nvolvesha phlosophy s splace wh regar o any preesablshe se o phlosophy Wha Rancre as a, agans all aeps o esablsh aor o raonaly ha by vre o s speror eho gves s access o

he hng sel, s an egalaran levellng o o scorses I he occpeshe neval beween scorses (ha o he asses an phlosophy,hsory or lerare ) s o no all sch preensons an rece allscorses o a coon langage. he asers scorse s wanng,hen s becase reles on eacly he sae poec operaons as hosescorses rejecs or preens o sbse

Coresponng o boh he aeshecs o polcs an he polcs o aeshecs, hen s wha Rancre calls a poecs o knowlege' an

operaon ha shows all scorses o be specable, no by os o sel-legaon base on he sppose speccy o her objec, b by poec operaons wh whch hey esablsh he vsbly o objecs anake he avalable o hogh he poecs o knowlege nvolves

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EDITOR INTRODCTION

settig all iscorses withi the horizo o this commo lagage Phi-losophy, qa poetics of kowlege, is ths a ivetive activity which,itself wihot ay preestablishe site, creates a commo lagage a

allows for a reescriptio of a commo worl o eperiece, i challege to apparet iscipliary ivies. Gie by this priciple of eqaliy, it eables a reescriptio hat maps he teecies o he times,separatig ot those that stile issess, eve i the gise of proviiga hose or it, a those that sggest ew scees o political, aristic atheoretical iovatio

So, Racire's coceptio of philosophy is ot tha of a atoomosrealm of systems tha evolve i time; istea philosophy is a itee

tio io theory I this sese, his work is similar o hat o Althsser insofar as both ersta philosophy as a pracice tha is polemical asitatiospecic The tets of both athors always aress a hisoricala political cotet whose stakes they set ot to clarify Cotrary toAlthsser, however, who always strive to reveal ay give coceptalebae as a strggle betwee iealist teecies a Maria materialism,Racire is always a everywhere o to epose the gres o masery erlyig coceptal ebate, of which Maia materialism itsel is

merely a sophisticate variat, by eposig the commo poeic operatioo which they rest. That his writig is thoroghly permeate by a rechat iroy is a relectio o this raical polemical stace everywherehe correcs or sppose certaities a vager oios, remitig ihis efforts to ietify a iferetiate the crcial aces The psho isthat every iea i these pages appears oly as the ea of someone as heieological projectio of that iea ito theory itself from a ietiablepolitical or artisic operaio.

e migh say that philosophy, for Racire, is a sor of ityoheoryapractice. This is to say that it works with coceps, bt tha thosecocepts are also forms of practice o major ways of sig coceptsappear to istigish hemselves: there are those philosophers who seekto impose rigi otological separatios oo the worl which, as wehave see, is for Racire ltimately complicit with the repressive socialorer a there are philosophers who ahere to he presppositio othe eqality of itelligeces hat Racire shows, agai remiiscet o Althsser, is that both sages of cocepts are able o be ebate i aisitereste philosophical way wihot he comorable imposiioof practical implicatios Here, however, Racire istigishes himsel 

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om Alhusser, for whom such mplcaons were always identiablewih a integrated set of prescrbable pracica commiments; for Ranciethe gap beween the knowedge yeded by thought and poical tance

rreducibe. thi he i oer to Foucault (o, indeed, more Foucauldan han Foucaut himef was6): he renounces a ransitivty betweenheory and politic o ar, hat i to ay a aserion that aim to controhe eec of hi knowedge Th has pracca eects n tef, inofar asnstead of hooting down fase appearance and claiming to be leadingthe good pracice, he, more modety, and perhap more eecvely,pon u to he independent, demontrave power of the mup ofloca and precaous ntances of poliical and aric nnovaon.

The nal eay 'The Ue of Dincon dea wh he ontoocalstructure underlying h pracce of wting a oppoed to oher recentradica heorie of the poitcal and the aethec. The dscuon hereumately tu on the satu of he concept ofief e queionof how to undestand the emergence of event that are heterogeneous tohe esabihed order a preoccupaon that Ranre hares wth suchcontemporary ter as Badou, Agamben Nei and Zek.  exremeyinstrucve dscusion preen he ateave in sark tems terms either

dienu n be hout, wih the above-menioned hinkers, as emerging due to he power of an ontologica (or non-ontoloca) derence orcan be based upon paradoxica forms of acion and experience inducedby he egatarian peuppoon. Eher densus i congured n a waythat work to hore up a pec pae for philoophy as mater discoureor it doe o in a way that echews al noon of philosophy place, tuating t n egaltarian fashon, in he interval between dicourses,between phoophy and nonphiloophy Agan the leson that realeffecs of dsenus are ony ever created by reating a world in which ti upposed hat the power of he heteogeneous grounded in a dsnctontoogical dfference wih a word in wich heterogeneity i cast a thereworking, aps up of partion of pace and time according to thepreuppoion of the equalty of inteligences

Ranre work on poii and aethecs connues to muate debate oer u ome of he mot producve oluion to quetions of poicasubjecvaon and aehec eeence, a wel a nigh anayses ofhe conjuncture. Umately however, hi concept are not merely presented a fodde for academic debate he chaenge hat hey hrow outto u and he tet of the pernence one of the usefuness.

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The Aeshetics of Poltics

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CHAPTER ONETen Theses on Poics1

es Pol s not the ere of powe Polt oght to be dened n o

s as a spe mode of aon that s enated a e sbjet and that hasoproper ratonal It s the poltl relatonshp that makes t possble toonve of the sbjet of polt, not the other way rond

Poiic, when idenied wth the exercise of power and the srugge for

s posession, dipensed wih from the ouse. More, when cocevedas a heory - or iveigaion io grounds of legtmacy of power tsype of hinkng is alo dspesed with If poiics has a pecity thaakes i oher han a more capacos mode of groupng or a form fpower characezed by is mode of legtmaio, it is ha t conce adisncve kid of sbject, and hat coces hs sujec i he form ofa mode of reaton tha s proper o i This is exactly wha Arstole saysin Book I of he Polt, whe he dsgshes polical rue (as the ring

of equa) fom a other kd of rule; ad agan n Book when hedenes he ciizen as 'he who parakes in he fac of rulng ad he facof beig red Everyhng abot poiics is contaned in his pecieatoship hs partakig (avor-part) that needs to e iterrogaed aso is meaning and condtons of possiiiy

inerrogaton ino wha is 'prope to poiics must be distingshedcarefuly from he curren and widepread propotons egarding heretu of the polcal The contex of sae conensus hat has deveoped

sice the 1990s has brough wih i a profusio of armaos proaimghe end of he iluson of the soca and a ret to a 'pue form of

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pocs These afraons eneray aso draw on he aboveenionedAstoteian texs, read thouh the interetaons of Leo Strauss andHannah Arendt hese interetaions he 'proper poiica order is

eneraly dented wth that of the e en (ivin with a vew to a ood),n contrast to the zen (conceved as an order of basic ife) As a resut,the boundary between the poitica and the doesic becoes heboundary between he potica and the soca and the dea of a ctystate dened by ts coon ood is set n conrast to the sad reaity ofa ode deoacy cast as he rue of he asses and necessty pracce, ths celebraton of pure oitcs renqushes he virtueassoated wth the poitca ood, handin t over to oveenta o

achies enihtened by their expers Ths s to say that the suposedpurcaion of he poitca, freed fro doestc and social necessity, stantaount to he pure and sipe reducton of the poitca to the state(aqe)

Behnd he buffoonery of todays proclaed 'retus of the pocaand of potical phiosophy, here es a fundaenta vcous re hatcharacerizes poca phlosophy tself This vous cre conssts n theparticular way in whih the reaton between he poiica reaonshi

and the poitica subect ets intereted; that s, in he assupion hatthere is a way of lfe hat 'spe to potca existene, enabln us toinfer the poltl reaionshp fro the propertes of a spec order ofben and to construe t n ters of he existence of a ure possessn aspec ood or unversaty, by contrast wih the prvate or doesticworld of needs and interests ot, n a nutshe, coes to be seen asthe accopishent of he way of lfe proper to hose who are destinedto it The very partiion that n fac fors he obec of poitcs thus coesto be osited as its foundation

o, coneived as a speci way of lfe, he specty of potcs is dspensed with fro the sart Potcs cannot be dened on the bass of anyreexisn subec e derene spec to potcs, that whch akesit possbe to thnk its subec, ust be souht in the for of ts reaton the aboveenioned Arstoteian denition of he cizen, he subec(pol) s ven a nae dened by a partakng (meexs) both in a for ofacion (arkhn) and in he passibiy correspondn to ths action(arkhtha) thee s soethn 'roper to poiics, it conssts entreyn reaonship, which s not a reaonshp between subecs, but

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TEN THEE ON POC

etween two conradicory erm ha dene a ubec o dappear he momen this kno beween a ubec and a reaion undone which exacy what occurs n al he speclave an empirst cons ha

seek the origin of the poltical relaonshp in he propertie of issubec an he condion of her coming together The tradionaqeton For wha reason o human beng gaher into polica communites? i always aready a response reung he disappearanceof he obect i profeses o be explaining or founng tha is, theform of polical partaking that hen vanishes n the play of eement or atoms of socabliy

Thi 2 at c to poti th xitn of a ubj dnd ipaipation in conta Polii i a paadoil fo of acon

Formulation tha dene potc as he rung (commandmnt) of equas,and he czen as he one who patak in rling and beng ruled,articulate a paradox whch demand a rgorous conceptuazation weare o undersand he ognality of the Aritoean formlaion banalrepresenation of he doxa of paramentary ytems that invoke he

recproy of rgh and duie mut be set aside The Artoean formuaon peaks o us of a beng hat i at once he agen of an aconand the mater pon whch that action s exercsed. conradcs theconventional logc of acton accordng to which here exis an agentendowed wih a spec capacty to produce an effec upon an obec,whch, in s , is characterzed by its aptude for receving hat andony that eec. Ths problem is by no means resoved through heassical opposition that dngushes between wo modes of acion,a poi goveed by he mode of fabrcaon which gves form omater, and a pi that subracts from hs reaon the nterbeng(l'int-t) of peope committed to politcal acon. We know haths opposition, relayng that of n and u n undeins a speccconception of potica pury Hannah Arens work for instancehe orer of pi s an order of equas who are in posession o hepower of he akhin hat s the power to begin anew (commnc: Toac, in it mot general ense, she expains in Th Human Conditionmeans to take an inave, to begin (as he Greek word akhin, "obegin, o lead, and eventualy o rue ndicaes); she conclude 

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his hought by going on o link akhin to 'the prinile of freedom.4Thus, once a sole proper mode and world of acon is dened, a vertiginous short-cut enaes one to posi a seres of equatons eween

'commencemen, 'rulg, 'beng free and livng in a pol (as Arendtpus i 'to e free and o ve in a poli s the same hng) This series ofequaions nds its equivalen in he movemen ha engenders vcequalty in the communty of Homeric heroes; equals hey are i herparicipaon in he power of akh.

The rs o ear wess aganst his Homeric dyllc is Homer himseAgainst Thersites the 'garruous, he one who is an abe pulic speakerbu has no paricuar entitement o speak, Ulysses remnds us of he fac

ha the Greek army has one and only one chef: Agamemnon. He herebyreminds us of he meaning of akhin o walk a he head And here isone who waks a he head, hen the others mus necessaly walk ehindThe ne eween he power of akhin (.e. he power o rule, freedomad he pol not sraght u broken. As conrmaon of the poin, weneed only look at he way in whih Astotle racerizes the hreepossibe asses of rule whin a pol ea of which possesses a parcuare 'vrue for the atoi 'weah for the olgoi and 'eedom for hedmo this divison, the 'freedom of he dmo comes o apear asa paradocal par, one ha, as the Homer hero ells us, and in nouncertain erms, has ony one hing o do: say silen and sumit.

shor, he opposon eween p and poi y no means enablesus to resolve he paradoxcal denon of the polt far as he akh isconeed, convenional ogic posts, as wih eveg ese, he exsence of a parcuar dsposiion to act hat is exersed upon a parcurdisposiion to 'be aced upon The ogic of akh hus presupposes tha adeeinae superiory s exersed over an equay detenae inferiority.For a political suject and herefore for polics o ome to ass, snecessary to reak with this ogic.

Th 3 Poli a c bak with th logic of th akh do not implypuppo a bak th th noal dtibution of poion that dn who pow and who ubjct to it It ao qui a bak th th ida thatth t dioion p' th poition

In Book of he La (690e, Plato undertakes a sysemaic invenoryof he qualicaons (iomata) required for goveng and the correatve

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TEN THEE ON POLC

qualcaons for eng ruled Of he seven hat he reans, four aretraditona quacations fo positions of authory and ae based on anatural dfference, tha s, he dfference of rth Those qualied to

rule are those 'o before or bo oherwise Ths s wha groundsthe power of parents over chidren, the old over he young, asersover saves and noes over serfs The fh qualicaton s ntroducedas he prncple of pncples, he one hat infors all oher naura differences: i is he power of those wh a superor naure, of the stongover he wea - a power hat has he unfortunae quaty, discussed aength in he Gogias of beng strcly indeternate In Paos eyes, heonly worthy quacaion is the sxth one: the power of those who

now over hose who do no There are thus four pairs of tradionalquaicaons, which are n tu subordnaed o two heoretical parsnaura superory andhe rue of scence The s ough o stop there.owever, lato lits a sevenh possle quaicaon for deernngwho is able o exerse the arkh. He cas i 'the choice of God o,oherwse sad, the drawng of lo Plao does no expand upon hs,bu cleary his chce of ege, ironicaly sad o be 'of God, alsorefers to he regie ha ony a god coud save: deocracy So, dec

acy is characterized by the drawng of ls, or he copee absence ofany enitleen to gove is the state of excepion in whch nooppositions can funcon, n which here is no pncple for he divdngup of roles To partae in rung and n beng ruled s soehing ratherdfferen o recprocity On the conrary, the exceptona essence of thsreationship s consttued y an asence of reproy; and his asenceof recprocy rests on the paradox of a quacaion hat s an asenceof quaicaton Deocracy is the spec suation in which she asence of enteent ha enties one to exercise he akh€ s heenent wthout coenceen, a for of rue (mmandement)tha does not coand In hs ogic he speccy of the arkh - itsredoubling, that is, he fac that it always precedes itself n he ccle ofts own disposition and exercse s destroyed But ths suaion ofexcepon s denca wh he very conditon hat ore genealyaes pocs n s speccy possle.

Thesis 4 Democa is not a polical regime. a upue in the logi of theakh, that of the antipation of ulng in i disposion, it the ve egimeofpoli ie a fo of relaonship that denes a spe subject.

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Wt mkes posse e mtis proper o pos is rek w e ogis t oe prs ordng to te exerise of e arkh�. Tebery of te peope, w onsitues e xiom of demory, s

s its re onent rek w e xom of domnon, t is, ny sorof orretion etween py for ruing nd pity for engued. Te itizen wo kes pr n ruing nd n beng red is onyoneve on e ss of te dmos s gue t reks wt formsof orespondene etween seres of orreted pes

So, demoy s no poiti reme in te sense t it forms oneof te possibe onsutions w dene te wys in wi peopesseme unde ommon utory. Demoy s te very nsttution

of pois se of its sujet nd of te form of s retionsp.Demory, we know, ws erm nvened y is opponens, y

ose wo d n entemen to gove senioriy, rt, wet,vrue o knowedge. In using e word demory s erm ofdeson, ese opponens mked n unpreedened revers in teorder of ngs e power of te dmos referred to te f t osewo rue re tose wose ony ommony s t ey ve noentemen o gove. Before eing e nme of ommunty, te

demos is e nme of pr of te ommunty e poor. Bu e poor,presey, does not desgne n eonomy disdvnged pr ofte poputon, ut simpy te peope wo do not oun, wo ve noenement to exerse e power of e arkh� none for w eymg e ouned

Ts is exty wt Homer sys in te ovementioned episode oferses. ey insist on speking ou, Uysses srke nyoneeongng o te dmos to e undifferened oeion of te unouned fo (anathmoi) n te k wi s sepe Ts is not dedution u denon. To e of te mos s e ouside of teoun, to ve no spee to e erd Tis poin is ustrted n remrke pssge of Book X of te iad In ts pssge, Poydmsompns to Heor for vng disregded is opnon. you, esys, f one eongs to e dmos one s no rgt to spek. OnyPoydms s no vin ke Terses; e s Heors roer. Te termdmos' does no desie soy inferior tegory. Te one woeongs to e dmos wo speks wen e is not to spek, s te onewo prkes n wt e s no pr in.

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sis 5 Th pl that mps th subj of dmocra, and thus th atomicsubj of polti, is nithr th colon of mmbrs of th communi, no thlaboung casss of th population It th supplmnta pa in laon to

v count of th pa of th population, making it possibl to idnti th untof th uncountd' with th whol of th communi

The eole (dmos) ex ony a a utue wih the ogic of akh autue wih the oc of commencement/commandmen. It can bedentied neihe wth he ace of thoe who ecoize each ohe ahavng he ame beginnng o bih, no with a a o um of the a,of the oulaion. The eole he uemen ha djoin the ou

laon fom ef, by uending all logc of etimae dominaion. Thdjuncion i welilutated n the cucial efom that gave ie toAthenian demoacy, naely hat effeced by Cesthene edawng ohe eioa diibuon of he ciy dms.5 By contiung he tibeon he bai of hee dnc tye of egional diibuon a ciyntiuen, a coaa one and an inand one Cethene boke wthhe anent ncie that ubjeced be to the ule of ocal atoaticchefainh, he eal content of whoe owe, egtimated hough

egenda bh, wa the economic owe of landowne. In um, eeole a uch coni n an atce hat cu though he logic thatn fom he ncle of bh to he incile of wealh anabac uemen in eaion o any acual (accoun of the a ohe ouaion, of hei qualicaion fo aakng n the communiyand of the common hae that they ae due by viue of thee qualcaon The eole a ulementay extence that incibe hecount of he uncounted, o a of hoe who have no at that i,

n he a ntance, the equaity of eakng being wthout whichinequaity tef i nconcevable. Thee exeon ae to be undetoodno n a oul but n a tucual ene I i no he aboungand ueing ouace ha emege on he tean of olitcal ation andhat dene i name wh hat of the communy. The 'al of hecommunty named by democay i an emy, ulementay a thaeaae he community out fom he um of the a of he ocabody Thi ntial eaation found otics a the acon of ulemenay ubjec, ncibed a a uu in eaon to evey coun of thea of ociey.

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e core of he quesion of poiics hen, resides n he ineretaonof hs void and suus Ctques hoping o dised democracypersistenly reduce the consiutve nothing of the poiica people o

he surfei (opplin) of the greedy masses and he gnoran popuaceAn interpretaion of democracy by Claude Lefor confers a strucuralsense on he demoatc vod6 But his theory of the void n be inerpreed n wo ways Accordng to the rst, he vod s anarchy, heabsence of any egtimacy of power and isef consttuive of he verynaure of poca space According o the second, he vod emerged viathe disncorporaion of he kngs wo bodies, human and dvineDemoacy, according o this laer vew, bens wih he ngs murder,

when he symboic colapses to produce a dsemboded socal presenceTis ornary lnk is said o nvove an orignal emptaion o eate anmaginary reconstrcon of a glorious body of the peope tself her tothe immoral body of the king and he basis of al forms of toalaranism Contrary to ths ineretaion, i can be argued tha he peopleswo bodies are not a mode consequence of the ac of sacrng hesoveregn body, bu instead a constuive given of poltcs tself sntaly he peope, and no the king, ha has a double body And thisduaity is nohing bu the supplement by whch poiics, tself, exists as asuppement o every soa (ac)coun and n excepion o every oc ofdomnaton

The sevenh quacaion s gods par, says Plao is my conentonthat the par tha belongs o god, ha s he quaicaton of thosewho have no quacaton contans a tha is theoogical n poiicsPresenday focus on he heme of he theoogicopoica dissoves hequesion of poiics ino that of power and of he ornary situation hatfounds i I serves to redoube he ibera cton of the contrac wih arepresenaon of an orgnary saice Bu the dividing of the arkhtha founds potcs, and thus demoacy, s not a foundng sacce sthe neuraizaton of every saca body The fabe form of his neuraizaion can be read a the end of Oipus at Colon us: t is a he prce of hedsappearance of he sacra body, of not going to seek Oedpus corpsethat Ahenan demoacy receives the beneca effecs of its buria Towant o disiner he body not ony o associate the demoatc formwih a scenaro of sin or of origina maledcion More radcay, t invovesreducing he logc of poiics to he queston of an orginary scene ofpower, ha s o say reducng poics o he sae By inereng the

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empty par n erms of psychosis, he dramaurgy of oiginl symboliccaarophe ransform the polical excepton ino a accia ympomof democacy: subumes he liigiounes proper to polics under any

number of verson of man' orinary n or murder.

Ths 6 Ifpolti th tang of a vanishing n wi spct to th tbuon of soal pa an shas, it folows that i tn is no mansnssa, but that it os an always povisional ant within th histooos of ominaon It ao fol that th ssntial objct of poical ut th v tnc of pol its

Poiti is by no means a reaiy tha mgh be deduced from he necese eadng people o gather n communie olitc an excepion inreaion o the princip accordng to which his gatherng occur. Thenormal order of hing is for human communte o gather under herule of hoe who are qualied o rue and whoe qualicatons are evdent by din of ther very rule. The variou goveenta qualicatonsare uimaely reducible to two major iles. The rst retus socieyto he order of laton, human and divine. Ths the power f birh.

e econd reu ocety o he vital pinple of t aiviies. Thi ishe power of weath. The normal evouton of oety, hen, presentsieH in the form of a rogresion om a goveent of brth o agoveent of wealth. Poiic exs a a devaon from his normalorder of hing. thi anomaly tha expreed in the nature ofpolit subject, whch are not ocial group but ather forms ofincrptin tha (ac)coun for he unaccounted.

Polic exist insofar a the peope no dentied wih a ace o apopulation, nor he poor with a parcular diavantaged ector, norhe proeaiat wih a group of inura workers, ec., but nsofar athee latte are identied wih ubjec hat incbe, in the form of asupplemen o every coun of he part of oety, a pecc gure of hecount of the uncouned o of the par of those without par. Tha thipar exit is the very take of politc itself. olitcal conc doe nonvolve an oppoon between group wih different inerets. It formsan oppostion beween logc that count he pares and parts of hecommunity in different way. The combat beween the rich and thepoor s one over he very poiblity of spitting these word nto two,of intung them as categoes tha incibe anothe (ac)count of the

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couny o ways of conting he ar of he couniy existThe r count rea arts ony - actua gro dened by differences nbirth and by the different function, lace and nteret hat ake

the oca body to the exclsion of every ppeent The econd, inadditon to th con a art of hoe wihou art I cal the rs hepolic and he second politi

Th 7 Politi tan in tinct ooition to th polic po i a itibution of th nibl (artage d enibe who pnpl th abn ofvoi an of upplmnt.

The oice is not a oa funcon bt a sybolc consion of heocial The eence of he poce e neher in rereion nor even nconrol ove he ivng It eence lies n a certain way of dviding he sensbe I call ditbton of he senbe' a generaly ic aw hatdene he for of arng by rst denng he ode of ercepon inwh hey are . e paron of the ensble he divdingp ofthe world ( mon) and of eole (u mon) he nm pon whchthe nomoi of the county are fonded Ths partion shold be

nderood n he doube ense of he word: on the one hand, as thawhch earate and excldes; on the oher, a hat which alowparciaon A artiton of he enbe refer to the anner n whcha relaon beween a shared coon (un commun patag) and theditrbuton o exve art i deterned n enory exerence Thisatter for of dtribon which, by i enory selfevdence, aniaes the diribuion of ar and hare (pati) itef reose adisrbton of what s vibe and what not, of what can be heard andwha cannot

The essence of he police ies n a partiton of the nibe tha chaacterized by the abence of void and of supleent ocety here ade up of grop ed to pecc ode of dong to pace in whichthee occpations are exered and to odes of being corespondngto thee occuation and hee places In his atchng of function,laces and way of beng, there is no ace for any void is th exclon of what i not tha consite he policepncipe at he core oftatit ractices The eence of olitic con in diurbng hisarrangeent by upeenting wh a par of thoe withou paridented with the whole of the county Political dipute hat

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which brigs potics to beig y eparatig t from he poce, whichcauses t to disappear cotinualy eher y purely ad smpy deyng or by camig polical ogic as s ow oitics, before al else, a

nerveton he vsble and the sayabe.

Thi . Th nal work of politi i th nguration of i o pac It i tok th world of i ubjc and i opaion n Th n ofpoli thmantation of dinu th pn of wo wol in on.

Let us tart wih a emprical ve polce eretos pulc pacescosist prmaly no teelatg demotraors, but i breakig up

demosraios The polce is ot he law which eelates idvduas(as i Lous Alhuse 'Hey, you there!), no uness i is cofuedwith religious subjei7 It cossts, befoe a else, i recalng theoviousess of wha here is, or raher of wha here is o and itssogan : Move aog! Theres othig to see here! The polce isha which ays tha here, on his sreet theres ohig to see and sonothig o do bu move aog assers tha he space for crculatigis othg bu he space of rculation. oitics, by contras, cosis

transformng this space of movgaog, of crcuao, nto a pacefor he appeaance of a uject: he people, he worker, he cizeIt cons i regurg space ha s what is to e done, t be seead o be amed i it I is the nsutig of a dspute over the dribuion of the sesble, over that nmn that fouds every nomo o thecommuity.

This pario cosituve of poli is never gve in he form f fate,of a kind of propery ha desie or compe one o egage policsThese properes, i their udersadig as much as their exesio, arelous Exemplary his regard are hose propees hat, for Astole,dee the capacy for poi or he deny of a lfe lved accordg tothe good Nohg could be earer, o i woud seem, han he deducomade by Asole i Book I of he Polii: the g of he poical atureof humas i constued y her posesio of the logo, which s aloeae to demostrae a commuity the athi of he jut ad the ujus,i contrat o he phn approprae oy for expresing feelig ofpleasure and dpeasure Whoever is i he presece of an aima thatpossesse the aty o arculae aguage and is power of demonsraionows ha he s deaig with a huma and therefore polica - aima

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Th only pril uy lis in knowing in whih sign this si n b rognizd; h s, how you n b sur tht th humn nm mouthng nos in on of you s uy ruing dsours, rthr thn

mly xpssing s of bing? thr is somon you do no wishto roz s poi bing you bgin by no sing him s h brr of signs of poitiiy, by not undrsnding wh h sys by no hrngwht ssus om his mouh s disours. And h sm gos for h syinvokd opposion btwn, on h on hnd th obsuity of domsnd prvt if nd on h ohr, h rdn umnosiy of th pubif of qus. tionly in ordr to dny h poiti quliy of tgory - workrs womn nd so on - l h ws qurd ws o

ssrt ht hy bongd o 'domsti sp h ws sprd frompubli lif on from whih oly grons or is rssng surnghungr or ng ould mrg bu not u sph dmonstrig shrd athes. nd h poli spt of ths tgoris wys onsstsin rqug hs sps in gtng thm o b sn s th pls of ommuniy; it invovs ths goris mking hmslvs sn or hd s spng subjs (f ony in h form of igon) n short spripnts n ommon aisthesis. onsiss n mking wht ws unsn

visibl; in mking wht ws udib s mr nois hrd s sph d ndmonsrng ht wht pprd s mr rsson of psur npin s shrd flng of good or n vi.

Th ssn of politis is dissensus Dissnsus is no ononttionbwn inrss or opnons. s th dmonsrtion (manestation) of gp in h snsibl slf. Polii dmonsrion mks vsil t whihhd no rson to b sn; i ps on world in nohr - for instnth wod whr h tory s pubi sp in tht whr it is onsidrdpriv world whr workrs spk, nd spk bQut th ommunyn th whr thir vos r mr s xprssing pin. This s th rson why polis nno b idnd with mod of ommunitivton. Ts modl prsupposs prnrs tht r rdy pronstiutds su nd disursiv forms th n sp ommuni h onsinof whi is wys ib. Now th spiy of poi dissnsus sh its prnrs r no mor onsud hn is th obj or stg ofdisusson itsf. Thos who mk vsibl th f tht hy blong to shrd world h othrs do no s - or nno k dvntg of - s hmpli lo of ny prtis of ommunition. Th workr whopus forwrd n rgumn bou h pubi ntur of domsi wg

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dispute must demonsrate he word in wh his argumen counts as anargumen and must demonsrate as such for those wo do not have theame of reference enablng hem to see it as one. Poical argumentaon

is at one and the same me he demonstraon of a possle wold nwh the argument coud coun as an argment, one tat is addressed ya subjec qualied o argue over an identied ojec to an addressee who required o see the objec and to hear the argument tha e 'normyhas no reason eiher o see or to hear. s he constrcton of a paradocaworld hat puts together wo separate words

Poics then has no proper pace nor any natural subjecs A demonsraon is polca no ecause occurs in a particular pace and bears

upon a parcular oject ut rather because is form is hat of a ashbeween wo partitions of the sensie. A potica subject is not a groupof neress or of deas,• t the operaor of a particuar osiifof sujecvation and itigation through whch poics comes nto estence.A poitica demonstraon is therefore aways of he moment and itssubjecs are aways precarous. A polcal derence is aways on heshore of is own dsappearance: he people are always close to sinknginto he sea of he popuaon or of the race; the proeaat s awayson the verge of eng confused with workers defendig er interess;he space of a peopes puic demonstraton is aways prone to beingconfused wth the merchants agoa and so on.

The notion tat pocs can be deduced o a specic word of equas orfree people as opposed to a wold of lved necessi takes as is oundpresely the oject of its ltigation. h necessay coons the inessof tose who do not see tha wi h no pace o be seen Exemparyn this regard s a passage om Arendts On Rolun, in which she comments upon a text y John Adams who denties he nappiness of hepoor wih the fact of 'no eng seen.8 Such an dencaon, she remarks,could iseH only issue om a man tha belonged o a prveged communityof euas. Conversely, is is something that those comprisng the categories in ueson could hardy understand. Ths asseton migh seemsursng ven ts exraordnary deaess o he mtipicy of discoursesand demosraons made by the 'poor conceng precsey their mode ofvisiiy. Bu hs deaess has noting accidena about t forms a rewith the act of quafyng as an orna partion founding potics what in fact the permanen object of itigation that nsues poltics. formsa cire wth the dening of homo laboans wthn a division of 'ways of life.

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Ths re is no spec to uch-oru a heorecian; t s he ery reof 'poi philosophy seH

Thes 9 Inasmuch as the povin of political philosophy lies in gouningpolitical aion in a spec moe of being, it wo essentially to ea theliigiousness constitue of politi Philosophy ees this eacement in its veesciption of the wol of politi Moeove the eeiveness of this eacementis ao peetuate in nonphilosophical o ani-philosophical escipions ofthe wol

Tha he ditinguhng feature of poitics s the existence of a suect

who 'rues y the ery fact of hang no qualcaons to rule; hat theprinciple of commencemen/ruing i rremedaly diided as a result of and tha the poica mmuniy s esentialy a itigos communty such is he seet of pocs rst encounered y phiosophy we canspeak of he 'Ancens as hag a priilege oer he Mode t resden their haing een he rs to percee h ecre and no in theirhaing een he st o conta the commuity of the 'good wihthat of the useful Conceaed under he anodyne eression 'poltcaphosophy he oen encounter etween phlosophy ad theexcepon to he aw of akh proper to potics not o mention phiosophy own efort to restuae pol under the auspces of th aw TheGogias, he Repubc he Stasman and the Laal hese texs tefy oone and the ame eor o efface he paradox or scanda aring fromhat 'seenh quacation namely a effort o u demoacy o asimple case of he ndetermnale prinple of 'the goeen of hesronget leang no oher soluton ut to conras with the goemen of exper (es savan) They tesify o one and he same effort opace he communiy under a unique aw of partition and to expulse theempty part of the mos from he ody of he community

Th expusion howeer doe not simply ake he form of an opposon etween a good reme of a communy hat oth uned andherarzed according to ts pncpe of unty and a bad regme of diision and dorder takes the form of a presupposon tha denes apoitical form wh a way of ife And this preupposition is alreadyoperae in he procedures for decrng 'ad remes and demoacyin particuar Al of polcs a mentoned aoe i played out in the

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inereaton of eoatc anarchy ienifyng t wh heiseron of the esres of eocrac an lao ransfors the forof oltcs ino a oe of exisence, an the vo nto a srfet Before

eing he theorst of the iea or ose ctysae Plao s he fonerof he anthropoogical concepion of the poltca, the conceion haenes oics wih he eployen of he propee of a tye oan or a oe of lfe This kn of an, hs way of beng, hs forof he ciystate: i s here, efore any scorse abo the laws orhe ecatonal ethos of the ieal sae, efore even the paton ofcouniy nto classes, ha he aron of he sene cancels oupoical sngulay

The intial gesre of olical phosophy hus has a wofolconseqence On he one han, ao fons wth i he coniy asthat whch accoish a prncple of nty an unvie prncipe acounty srcy ene as a coon oy, wih is paces anfuncions, an fors of nteazing the coon He founs an archil nerstoo as a law ha nies he occupaions of he ctystate,i ehos (ie its way of nhaing an aboe) an  nomo (as aw btalso a the spec one accorng to which h  tho reveas ise)

Ths ethoogy of he couniy once again reners nsinghaehe ga etween poltc an polce An polcal phiosophy y sere to ve to the couny a sngle founaion, is fae o have oreenify poics an poice, o cancel ot potcs throgh the gesreof founing

B Plato ao invene a conete oe or escng he roucionof poliica fors a wor, he invente the vey fors of conestatonagainst the ea cysae, the reglae fors of oppositon eweenon he one han hlosophca aprors an, on he oher he conee soologica or poiicaenc anayses of fos of poiics asan expresson of ways of lfe Ths secon egacy s ore profon anhas een longer asing than he rs Poitca hilosophys seconreource - s uton pu s a socioogy of the poltcal hrough whchi accoplshes necessary in he ge of beng aganst i) ts funaenal projec: to fon the counity on the bass of a unvoca paron of he sense Noale here is Aes e Tocquevles anaysis ofeoacy, whose nnuerable varans an ersaz versons fee crencorses on oe eoacy, he age of he asse, he iniviual

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of the masses and so on This anaysis s one with he theoretial at thaanes o the strtral singay of the qalation witho qaiation and the part o those witho par y redesrig demoray

as a soa phenomenon or as the oletive eetaon of the propeesof a type of man

Conversey, asserons of he pty of bios poliis, of he repianonsiion of the ommnity n ontrast o he ndividal or thedemoati mass and the oppostion etween he poial and hesoia ontrie to the efay of ha same kno eween the a-priorism of the replan refonding and the soiologa desrptionof demoray The opposion eween the polital and the soial

regardless of where one egns is dened entrely whi the frame ofpoltia phlosophy hat is to say it es at the hear of he phlosophalrepression o poiis The rrent proamations of a re o politisand to politia phiosophy merey imitae he ornary gestre ofpoltia phlosophy t witho ataly graspng the prnpes orsses a stake in In hs sense they mark a rada forgeng ofpoltis and of the tense relatonshp etween pos and phosophyBoth the sooogal heme of the end of polit in posmodesoety and the poa heme of he ret of potis ogiae inpolitia phiosophys intia wofold at and omine to rng aot hesame forgetng of poltis

Thesis 10 The en of politi' an the eu of politi' ae to mplementaways of canlling out politi in the simple relaionship beteen a state of thesoal an a state of the state apparaus Consens' is the mmon name given toth nllation

The essene of pols resides in the modes of dissensal sevaionhat reveal a soety i s differene to itsef. The essene of onsenssy ontras does no onss n peaefl dssson and reasonae agreemen as opposed o onit or voene Its essene es in he annlment of dssenss as separaton of the sense from itsef in henliaon of ss sets in he redtion of the peope to hesm of the pars of the soia ody and of the pota ommity tothe relatons eween he interess and aspiraons of hese differenpars Consenss onsst hen in he redion of pol to he poieConsenss is he end of poitis: in oher words not the aomplishmen

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of he ends of poitics u simply a reu o he norma sate of hngs the non-estence of polcs The end of polcs s he everpresentshore of polcs (l bord a potiqu) itsef an actvy hat s always of

te moment and provisiona The epressons reu of polcs and endof polcs encapsuate two symmetrcal nerpretaions hat ohproduce te same eect: an eacng of the concep of potcs sef andthe precarousness ha is one of s essenal eemens The socaedreu of the polcal in proaimng a retu o pure potics and thusan end o te usurpations of he soa smpy ocudes he fact thathe soca is y no means a parcular sphere of eisence ut instead adisputed oject of polcs Consequeny the end of he soca that it

proams is simply no more than he end of poitical tigaon over theparon of wods The r� of poics hus b down o he asserontha tere is a specc pace for pocs. Isoaed in his manner thisspecc pace can e nohing ut te pace of he sate So the heorssof he reu of polcs in fact announce is extinction They denfy twith he practces of stae he very pncple of whch conssts n hesuppression of potics.

Symmerically he socoogcal thess announcng he end of polcsposs the exsence of a state of te socal in which potics no longer hasany necessary reason for eng; whether this is ecause has accomplshed s ends y brnng ths stae into eing (he exoerc AmecanegelanFukayamais version) or ecause ts forms are no ongeradapted o he luidty and arcaliy of presenday economc andsocal relations (he esotec European edeggeanSituatonistverson) The thesis thus amounts o assertng that e logca tlo ofcapalsm enais he exncon of pocs. concudes hen eter bymouing he oss of polcs n he face of a trumphan and now immatera Levathan or y its transformaton no rokenup segmenedcybeetic ldc and oher forms tha mach those of te soca peranng to the highes stage of capitalsm It thus fais to recognize ta inactua fact polcs has no reason for eng in any sate of the soca andhat the conradcon between hese two lo is an nvaran gvendenng he conngency and preousness specc to poli Ths s tosay that v a Mast detour is thesis vadates n ts own way twofurther heses hat of poltca plosophy which grounds potics na parcular mode of lfe and he consensua hess that identies hepoltcal communy wih te soca ody and herey aso potical

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DSEN

pactice with sate actty The deate etween hose phiosopheswho poam the 'etu of pocs and he socologists who pofessits 'end is theefoe scacely moe than a sme deate oe he

appopate ode n whch o ead the pesuositions of polcahlosohy fo the puose of nteetng the consensuais pactceof annhiating potics

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CHAPTER ODoes Democracy Mean Something?

I ought to begin wth a reliminar statement about my inerenton inthi ere dedcaed Jacque Derda1 I hae neer been a dsciple ofDerrda, nor a pecialt of h though Snce I had him a a teaer, ermany year ago here ha been no opportuniy to discu phloophaqueton wth hm The tribue ha I can pay him, hen, cannot ake heform of a commentar on his work To honour I wll imply present

my way of dealig wth a concep or probem, one ha alo edgedincreaingy into he forefron of hs thking dung the nineie, hat what i meant by he name of democracy?

i question raied by Derrida in Polque de l' amiin a passagebearng on a wellknown staemen tha is atribued to Pees adparaphraed in lao Menenu: he goeent of the Ahenan i ademoac by he name but t actually an artoacy, a goeent ofthe bet wth he approal of the many2 Derrda poin to the oddy

of the tatement3 The er rheoric of demoac goeent tae tha type of goeance be en two oppoite name Demoacgoemen may be ld demoacy bu s in actual fa an arioacye probem, then, ow to conceie of th bu that inert a djuncon beween he name and the hing? We can intere t a a mater ofgoeenal lie ad rhetorical poture oweer, hi dierece betweenname and ting may alo be een to point to omethng more radcal aninea dieren ta contute demoacy a omehng other than a

nd of goeent Th queon dees he common ground betweenDerrdas inquiry ino the aporec trucure of demoacy and my ownino wha I prefer o lhe demoac paradox

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ean what I mean y demoatc paadox, I sha en y efeng o two contempoay deates ha addess demoacy oh in nameand in fact. he s conceed a majo disageement ove he Ameican

miiay campagn o spead democacy to he Mdde East Foowingthe eecons n Iaq and he an-Syan poess in Leanon an issueof Th Enomt an wh the headie: Dmoa Sr in th Middl Eathe eesson of this sefpocaimed saisfaction wh havng seddemoacy invoved a wo-ponged agumenave stuctue aou thisdiffeence eween name and fact: democacy ss vn though .o demoacy stis but

he st agumen was as foows: demoacy ss vn ough' deasts

cam hat t s a fom of sefgoveen tha canno ought y foceto anohe peope. In ohe wods, demoacy can e seen o sti u ony utopan vews of it as the owe of he peope ae dismssed and sooked at paaicay. he second agumen was hat 'democacy ssbu inging democacy means no smpy inng the ue of aw feeJecons and so on. Aove a, it means intodung the mess the aosof democatic ife. Donad Rumsfed put it n eaton o the ootingthat foowed Saddam Husseins deposition: we ought he Iaqis

feedom and tha, among ohe hngs, is wha eedom gives peope theopouny o do.

he vn though and but aguments comine o fom a conssent ogicastuctue. Indeed ecause democacy s not he dy of sefgovemetecause is aso messy, demoacy can, and pehaps mus, e oughtfom he ouside y he weapons of a supeowe. A supeowe is nosmpy a county tha possesses asoute miitay supeoity. s acouny tha has he powe o maste the demoac mess.

hese aguments fo endosing may campas to spead demoacyemind us of ode aguments hat wee no so "enhusastic aouspeadng demoacy. In fac, hey vey pecsey epea he two managuments pesened at he aea Commssion4 n ode o expanwhy hee was a cisis of demoacy.

he agument put fowad at he atea Commsson aso aimedhat democacy was sing, even though democatic deames equated wh the goveent of he eoe y he peope. In hs insance, hedeames wee hose vaueoened neecuas chaged y pocyoened inteecuas and he pagmasm, fo nutuing an advesay

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culture' and for promong emocrac aciviy excessively o he pont ofalengng leaershp an authory.

Demoacy srs, bu te mess srs alongsde i. Dona Rumsfes

joke abou the loong in Baghdad s bu a bald repetton of the argumen made by Samuel Huntngton 30 years reviously: namely hademoacy leads to an nease in demands, an hs pus ressure ongoveents, undermines auhorty a enders ndividuas and groupsunesponsve to he necessiies of dscplne and sacrce assocate wihruling n he name of common nteests

The campaign o sprea demoacy o new ertores happens toforeground perfecly he aradox of wha currenty goes by is name

Demoacy here desates emocrac goveen, hat good fomof goveen able o master he excess theatenng goo poicy ngeneral. Bu ths threateing excess s aso gven he name of democrayAs sated in The sis of Demoa, emocatc goveen s threaeneby nohing other han demoac fe Ths threa presents tsef n heform of a perfec doube bind On the one hand democac e calso impemen he iealsc vew of goveent by he peope for thepeope. I entas an excess of polica actvty ha enoaches on he

rnciles an procedures of good polcy, auhory, scentc experiseand praaic experence tis nsance, good demoacy seems orequire a reducon of ts poltca excess Yet a reducon of policalacion leads to he empowermen of private ife or pursui of appness, wh, n tu, eads o an nease in the asiraons an demanstha work to undermine olical auhory and civic behaviour As aresu, goo demoacy refers to a form of goveen able o ame tedouble excess of poltcal commen and egoscal behavour inheento the essence of demoaic lfe. e contemporary way of sng thedemocraic paradox is thus: demoacy as a fom of goveen iseaened by democracy as a fo of socal an polcal fe and so hefomer mus repress he later

order to understnd hs paradox, i may prove hepfu o examnehe second debate menioned erlier The dsagreemen nvolve in thissecond ebae s the more mnor of the wo, but t might jus enable us togras the sakes of he st and hus he ore of he emoatc aradox

As Amecan soldiers se heir sighs on demoacy n Iraq, a smalbook came out n France tha presened he probem of demoacy n

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the Middle East in a very derent lght and undd he homonymyeween good and ad demoacy. The ook was entitled s Pnanmin lEuop moaqu. Is auhor, eanCaude Mine, s a

heorst widely regarded, among oher hings, as the mos inuentiathinker of socaed epucan theory for whh tizenship s groundedexusivey n he unversay of the aw and educaon exclusivey nhe auhory of knowledge Republcan heory opposes al forms ofmulcuuraism and afrmative acton e aone any enoachmentsby social or cutural difference on hs auhority and this unversaty

What, accordng o Mne, is he crime tha democrac Europe iscommting? he rst insance, onsiss n pushng for peace n he

Midde East, hat s, or a peaeful resouon to the Israeaesnanconc Mner argues hat the peace proposa set forh y Europe canmply one and only one thing: the desructon of Israel. European democray, so he argues, has proposed s own version of peace o sove thealesnan prolem, bu demoac peace n Europe came aout ony ymeans of he olocaust. Democrac and peacefu Europe, putng pad opast European wa, was ony possble after 1945 beuse as of this yearEurope was aegedy freed y he Na genode of the people that soodn he way of s dream the Jews Demoatic Europe, Miner arguesin fact mpes the dissoluon of po whose prinple s rue over amited oaty into a soety whose principle is mitlessness Modedemoay he accompsment of ths aw of lmitlessness, whch ememazed and reazed y tecnology and which today has cumnated n the projec to rd oureves of the very laws of sexua divsion andaon. As su, mode European demoay, using an appropraetenooca nventon, was compeled to aae the very peope hahas the aws of ation and transmisson as its principle.

The argumen may seem paranod but is perfecty conssen wih awhole rend of hought whch, for the ast 20 years, has equated democray with he e of narsssc mass ndviduasm This so-caedmass ndviduasm, wih s everncreasing demands and emphasis onparcuarsm and communtaranism, s regarded as underminng theorms of poca ageny and sense of communy. Mlner, y arguingha the lmitessness of needs, aspiraons and demands wch semfrom soal life work to undermine good poy, is, n a sense, making thesame poin The novey of his argumen, however, consiss n he wayhat he radicalzes the opposon and presents as a logca one The

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logic and mahemacs of demoacy, he says, is contray o al forms ofgoo govement. His appeal i Pnchan crimin, the, s no onger toa good goveent able o maser he emocrac excess of 'democracy,

but instea, srikingy f dseey, o pastoralgoveen This expresson, Miner uses i, a reference both o Moses and to another inuentialbook among fomer leftist nelecuals, L Murtr u Pastu by ormerMaois eader Benny Levy Levys book presents us wh a bibica gureof he pasor tha has apparenly been represse by he raion ofWeste philosophy an poic. More imporany, however ths emof 'pasoral goveent is a hrowback o Plao. Levy, n fac, accusesPato of having betrayed hs own conception of the shepherd as put

foward in the Statman. reality, however, he siuation is moreambguous. Firs, because Pato acuay ocaes the place of pastoralgovement n a mythca pas a ime when our worl was guieddirecy by he hand of a ivine shepherd. Second, because the pasoraparadgm is need si a work in Plaos concepon of govemen byguardans as elaborae in he Rpublc

In my vew, the reference o pasora goveent iscoses the theorecal kee conained n the argumens about demoacy hat emerged

ung the American campa o sprea it tumphanly an he Frenchindcmen of ts crimes Contemporay iscourse on the twofo excessof demoacy, as the utopia of peopes sef-goveent by conrastto praatic poicy, or as the anarchic turmo of nividual desires incontrast to he iscipine of commo aw, restages he origna sengof emocracy n Plato: on the one hand, emocracy for Pao s he subbo regime of he unaerabe written aw s ike a presciption thaa physcian has lai down once an for al, irrespecive of he dsease o reaed; on the oher, the giiy of he eter s an expression of hepeope in s sheer arbitrainess, of he unrestcted 'freedom of invduas to behave as hey pease withou regar o common discipine. ThePlaonc argument amount o sayng hat emoacy is no a principe oficy, but a way of ife an one hat acualy resiss good policy. Democracy leads o aos not ony does mpy a way of ife n which eveybodyoes jus as he peases; more racaly, s a way of ife n wh eveyhing is ued on ts hea, the sate in which al naura reaons areoverue. In Book V of the Rublic, Pato escribes he sae ohe demoac ciy as a sae in whch, nsea of uing, ruers have toobey, in whi fathers obey heir sons and he eer mate the younger

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in whh women and slaves are as free as men and masers, and iwhich even the asses n he strees hod on ther way with the uofreedom and digniy, bumpng ino everyone who mees them ad do

not sep asidelthe pos-Tocquevilian talk about demoacy as a ocial way of lfe

and the assocaed dangers of democratic ndividuasm obvousy onlya rehashing of he old Platonic joke abou the proud ass. Neverheless,the persisen success of he joke has somehing ingug abou it Weare old day in day out ha we live in the twenieh century hat ourword s one of large natons-ates, he gobal-marke and owerfutechnoloes, one ha is enirey differen o those lttle Anen ies

compsed of men whose freedom was based on he excuson of womensaves and mecs Our demoaces, he concusion goes, have nothngin common wth the goveent of he ncen democratc vlage Ifwe admi his o be true, then how are we o expan he fac hat apoemcal despion of the demoatc vilage by an anidemoafom aniquty is tl being resened as he verabe porrait of hedemoatc indivdual in our word of so exchanges, supermarkesand one economies? The paradox suggests hat ths concepualizaion

of demoacy sustaned by a ruse in the descrton of demoaiclife. suggess hat he urmoil caused by he unchingly demoaicass nvoves more profound pobems. In other word he sandard wayof saing he democraic paradox, accordng o which demoacy s aform of life hat demoatc goveent has to repress, suggests a moreradcal paradox. This paradox I submt, tha of polcs tself

The core of he problem, as I see i s hat demoacy nether a formof govemen nor a form of soca ife Democracy is the isttuton ofotcs as such, of otcs as a paradox Why a paradox? Because heinsttuion of polcs seems o provde an answer to he key queston aso wha i s tha grounds the power of rue in a communty. And democracy rovides an answer, bu is an astonshing one: namely, hat hevery ground for the power of ruling is that here is no ground at all.

is what ao allows us to perceive n a very qui ash a thebenning of ook of the La As far as I am aware ths passage neverenered no Derdas dscussons of democracy, but I t aplyrenders he core of the democraic apoa or paradox his passagePlato make a st of all he necessary quacaions for rung He benswih he x hat are prediaed on a naura dierence beween he one

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who rles an the one who s ued: the power of parens oer heirildren, of the eler oer the younger, of masers oer saes, of nobesoer illains, the srong oer he weak, he leaed oer he ignoran l

hese quacatons noe a ear isrbuon of posons You may, asPlato i, queson wha being songer' really means, bu t is uneniable that weak is the oppose of srong s ebaabe whether senioritys a sufcen qualiion for he exercse of power, bu hat is aqualcaton s no lhese qualicaions relate o obece dieencesand forms of power aready operae in soey an can al be puforwar as an akh for uling akh is wo thngs: it is a teoreticapnple entaling a ear dsribuon of posions an capaces, groun

g the dsribuon of power beween ruers and red; an is a emporalbennng entalng hat he fact of rulng s anicpate n the ispostonto rle and, conerse}� at he edence of his dsposon is en bythe fac of is emprca opeaton

Goeen seemingly requies an accoun of ts arkh, namey anaccount of he reasons why some take the posion of he rulers an heohers ha of the people oer whom hey re The rs prncpes forrulng mee te two requrements of he akh bu here s a seenh,

whch ao cals the drawng of os'8 or emocracy, that oes no meeeher of hem Demoacy is neiher a predeened dstributon ofroles nor an atribuon of he exercse of power o a dsposiion forlng The drawing of los' presens the paradox of a qualicatonwhout qualcaion', of one tha spells the absence of arkh Bu youn draw wo ifferent consequences from ths qualicaton whoutqualcaton' You can ake note of he fac tha it is no an a ansmply scratch t om the ist of princpes of goeent Pao chosenot o i was not because of any eency on hs par He retaned i notony because emoacy in hs tme exise and because ts subec', thepeople, atested to ts spec exstence bu because of somethngelse, namely tha he demoatc ack of akh rebounds on the gooqualcaions hat are suppose o demonstrate he eeceness of anakh. Goo quacaons they may well be, but what exacy are theygoo for? Doubess om e senory of e senor i is possible to nfera fom of goement; is precse name wou be grontoca Similary,he knowledge of the leaed or eer a fom of goeent can sereo groud hat we mght cal an itmocra or tchnoca and so on anso forh ssng om his ls of forms of goeent, howeer, s the

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polical form f the ea of poltil goveent means anytng, mustimply an exra somehng, somehng superae o the goveens ofsenory, fatherhoo sence srengh ec, hat s, o he forms ha

alreay exs in famiies, ribes, soos an workshops, an hat proviepatte for wer an more compex forms of human communes. extra somehing mus come mus arve as Pao pus i, om 'heavenBu here are only two forms of goveent tha escen from heavenThe rs is pasora goveent, hat s the govement of myhic mes,when he vine shepher irecly rule the human o he other sthe goveen of chace, or rawng of los, namely emocracy.

other wors here are many pate of goveen by means of

wch men are rule. he mos common are base on birh, weathforce an science. ocs, however, impies that somehng extra asuppementary qualicaon common to boh he rulers an he rueut the ivne shepher no longer res the worl, then ony oneationa qualicaon can exis. n his is he quaicaon of thosethat are no more qualie for rng han they are for being re.Demoacy means presely hat he 'power of the emos' is he power ofhose that no akh enes them o exerse. Demoacy is no a ene

se of nstutions nor s t the power of a specic group s a suppemenary or grouning, power hat a once egitimizes an eemzesevery se of nstituons or he power of any one se of peope.

hs is he reason ha the prou ass causes such iscomfor. For whagets in he way of goo pocy s not the excess of emans springingfrom so-le emocrac mass-inviualism but emocracys owngroun. The politica rests on he suppementary 'power of the peope,whch at once founs an whraws s founations. my viewDerrias noon of he autommuniy of emoacy which he evelops in wo key ways, oes not touch on the racai of this eny ofhe grounng an the negang powers ccorng o Derra, autommuny means, rs, tha emocracy has an nhereny unmtecapaciy for sef-critsm, whch can aso empower anemocratic propagana Secon, it mpies he possibity tha emoatic goveencan ac to revoke emoac rghs n orer to proec emocracy againstits enemes, hose who use the eeom of emocracy o ght aganst itDerria argues hat n both cases emocracy stl hols fast to the sameunexamne power of the auto or se a wor emoacy as sOther whi can ony come to from the outse Derra thus set ou

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o break he re of he eby weavng a thread from he pure recepivyof the khra to he othe, or the newcomer, whose incuson denes hehozon of a 'democracy o come

My objecon o his s vey simpe oheess does not come to poiticsfrom the ousde, for he precise reason tha it aready has its ownotheess, i own pincipe of heerogenety Indeed, demoay hispncipe of otheess Rather than a power of e democray is thedisrupon of such a power and o he ciruaity of the arkh i ananarchc prinipe hat mus be presupposed for poitics to exis a aland inofar as it is anarchc precludes the sef-groundng of poiticsestabishing i intead as he eat of a dvsion I have entavely concep

tuazed tha divson hrough the disjunctive relation beween hreeterms poice, poiics a� he poicaJ

There are men wh le oher men because they are or, moreaccurately, because hey pay he part of he one who is elder, wser,richer and so on nd there are pates and procedures of ruing thatare predicaed on a ven dstribuon f qaication, paces andcompetencies I ca thi he ogic of he po. However, if he power ofeders s o be more than that of a geronoay; if the eaed have o

rle not ony over the ignorat bu aso over he ch and the poor if theigorant must 'undersand wha the eaed command hem o do;if soldiers are to obey her rulers insead of using he weapon for herown gain, hen he power of the rers has o rely on a suppemenayquaity common both o ruers and o he ruled Power mus becomepolitil

For tha to happen the ogc of the poie has to be thwarted by heogic of poitics Politi means he suppemenatio of a quaicaonsby the power of he unquaed The utimae ground on which uergove s that there is no good reaon as to why ome men houdule others Ulmatey he pracce of uling ress on its own absenceof reason e 'power of the peope smultaneosly legimze andde-egmizes it

Ths is what emo and demoacy mean The emo is no the populaon, he majoty, the poiica body or the lower classes i he suuscommuny made p of hose who have no quaicaion o ule, whichmeans a one eveybody and anyone a a The 'power of he peopeherefore canno be equaed wih he power of a pacular group orinstituon and it es ony n the form of a dsjuncon On the one

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hand, is he inner dierence ha both egtmze and deletmzeae niuion and practice of rulng Thi impies tha t i a vanhingdierence, one tha contnually hwared by the oligarchic running of

thoe intuion On the ohe hand, nce it coninually thwared,the power of he people mut be reenacted ceaeesy b poltcalubject that challenge he polce ditributon of part, pace or competence and tha retage he anarchic foundaion of he polcal Thetructure of thi dijuncon is no aporec but sensal f there ianythng hat aporec the atemp to ground he politca on isown principle owever, becaue the foundaion i riven, demoacymplie a pactice of disenus, one hat it keep reopening and tha he

practce of ruling reenley plugEarier aimed ha emoacy nno consit in a et of intiutons

The reaon for th hat one and he ame coniuton and et of awcan be mpemened n oppoie ways dependng on the ene of hecommon n whch they ae amed ey can circumcribe he phereof the politica and rerc poical agency to an actvty performed bydente agent endowed wh the appropriae qualcaion or hey cangive way o form of ntepreaton and practice that ae emocraic,

which inven new poiical place, isue and agent from the very ametext Ths fference oe no arie from a set of niutions bu conin another drbuton of the enible anoher eting of he tage, inpoducng dffeent relaton beween word he knd of thng ha heydegnate and the knd of pactce they empower aso amed thatthe logic of police cont in delmtng the phee of the politcalowever hs delmtaion ee a hnking of the poltcal age tha isuualy pacted, n a biaed way, in the name of the puriy of hepoiical, he univerality of the law o he disinctio� between poiicalunversaly and socia partiularity The reul of such a purication ofpolitc i aualy t eviion Demoaic logic, on he conrary, constin blurng and diplacng the border of he poiical Thi s what politcmeans dpacing the lmt of he poliical by reenaing the equaity ofeach and al qa vanhing condon of the politca

Neede o ay, those who wan the goveent of ies and ate obe grounded n one mple and unequivoca pncipe of communiy ndths pracice unaccepable Thi is the eaon for the elenle serie ofdenunciaion hat, frm Plao to Samue uningon, have aimed toexpoe the doube bnd, conradicton, duplty or ie of democracy, for

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th continual atmps o prov hat s raty contradcs is nam Thsdnuncaion was most famosly cast n trms of h oppostion btwneal and foal dmocracy so strongy mphaszd by h Marxs tradi

ton Howvr, h opposton tslf srtchs as far ba as th Platoncdstncion bwn dmoacy as th powr of h wtn aw anddmoacy as a form of ndividual and soca lif. Popl wll rmark hahs dstncions opra in vry dffrn conxts. h Platoncplo h ndvidualsic lf of th dmoas s posd as h ral contntof th fak commmn to h gour of th aw; whil n h Marxsadton, ra dmocracy is ptd against forma bourgos dmocracywhh works as a covr o concal its contrary, tha s h ra if of

xpoiaton and nqualy Howvr, dsp h dng conusions,h argumntaiv strcur s h sam. both, dmocracy is consdrd formal and i conatd wh h raly of nqualty. Ths ratycan tak on drn guiss may b, as i is n Patos work, h shrplasur of th dmocrac ndivdual govd by a calculus of plasurand pan may also b, as it s n Marxs work, h ralty of prvapropry and particuar intrsts Or i can b tud upsd down, asw s in Arnd by xtollng h brighss of h poca sphr of

apparanc agains h dark baground of mr gvnnss'. In a cas,dmoacy i approachd through th opposion bwn apparanc andrality by mans of whh s dscd, disgid and umatly vcd mos tling xaml of ths quvalnc bwn smngy oppositnrtaions can b found n th crqu of th rvouonary Rghtsof an and of th Cizn Today, w know, ths rvoluonary ghshav cdd hir plac o a gnral rgm of Human Righs. This shifcan n part b arbud to h fac hat for wo cnturs authors as diffrnt as Burk, Ma and Arnd hav shown that ths rghts hadsomhng wrong wh hm, namly hr dpcy. Th basc argumnof all hs authors whch Gorgo Agambn has rprsd in hs HomoSa, is tha wo subjcs ar smply on oo many and so som fallacymust hav p in10 Marx argud th matr by sayng hat th rghts ofth cizn ar in fact th ghs of a man who s acually a proprioror Burk and Arnd, hs ghts prsn thmslvs in h form of adlmma. can b said hat th ghs of th cizn ar th ghs of manbut if his is so thn h rghts of man ar h ghs of th apoliicandividua and, as hs ndvdual has no rghts on his own, ths rghts out to b th rghts of hos who hav no rghts, which amouns to

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nothng. Or it can be said hat the rghts of man are he rght of tzens,he rghts these latter possess on account of heir eonng to an exitingconsttuional state ths is he case, then hey are he rghts of those

who have ghts, whch amouns to a autologyUnderyng ths argument - if there are two subjecs, one of hem mut

e a fake, hat the 'true subjec must e eiher one or the oher, man orciizen a presupposiion whch sates hat the potcal subjec mutbe one and he same, a am that poliics i eiher mere appearanceor ele s subject idenical to that dened in constuona texsDemoacy, however, entals that there is never merely one subjec, sncepolica sujects ext in the interval beeen different ideniies, between

Man and zen Far om beng he emodment of he power of Man orthat of the ctzen, a poliical process of ujectvaon consis in heconsrucon of a form of connection and disconnecon beteen Manan ciizen this process, Man and ctzen are used as polica nameswhoe legal insipton is tsef the produc of a polical process Theare also concual names in the sense hat their extenson and comprehension a lgous mater, which opens a space for heir teing

vericaion. thee forms of vercaion, cizen and Man alteat

etween he roe of the incluve aganst the exusive princple, of hunvera aganst the paricular. Such is how these names have been ancan be used n demoac strugge Ctienshp means, on the one handthe re of equalty among peope who are inferio or superor as menhat is as private indvduals subordinate to he power of ownershi]and oa dominaon On the othe, y contrast to al he retrctons octzenshp fom whose scope many categoe of peope are excudeand which lms czens y plang ceran probems out of her rea'man entais an afrmaon of the equa capaty of everyone ananyone Demoacy cannot be reduced to the universa power of thlaw against the parcuarity of nterets, because it i he very ogic <he polce to carry out a connuous prvataion of he unversa consequence, he universal must be put nto play coninuously and, fhat to happen, t mut be divided anew

I made this point y commenng on the foms of feminist protedurng he French Revouon1 In his ime, women were denied

rghts of ctzens on accoun of he ocalled republcan pnple whisates hat ciizenshp s he sphere of universalty, while women aciies beong to the parcuarty of domesic lfe Women were deemed

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DOE DEMRACY MEAN OMEING? 

ocupy he sphere of the particuar and a a resu coud not e incudedin tha of the unversal. Lakng a of ther own hey could not epotcal sujecs. Agaist hs selfevden saement Oympe de Gouges

famousy argued tha sice women were quaed o mout he scaffoldhey were also quaed to moun the platform of the Assemy Herargumenaton lurred the oudares sepaang hese wo realms yseing up a universaty enailed n the socaled paruariy of are life.Snce women were senenced to death as enemies of he Revolutonher are life iself was potcal. On the scaffold everyone was equal:women were as men. The unversaly of he death sentence undermned the selfevden dsncion eween potcal lfe and domestc

fe. Women could therefore arm heir gh a ctzens The amaon amounts to demonstratng hat pace Burke and Arendt women didno have the rghts ha hey had and had the righs hat hey dd nohave O the one hand women were depved of he righs guaraneedy he Decaraton of Righs hose tha elonged o al ee and equalmen and demanded o have these ghts denied o hem. On the oherhrough ther very protest hee women demonsated a polca capactyThey howed that snce hey could enac thoe righs they acually

possessed them. i what a democ proces entails: eang forms of sujevaon

the nterva eween two dente; creag se of universaltyy playing on the doule relaton eween he uivera and he partiular. Democracy canno e predcated exusivey on he unvesaly ofthe law snce hat universay is privatzed ceaselessy y he logcof goveental acion. The unversal ha to e supplemened y formsof sujecvaton and cases of vercaton hat symie he relentles

prvazaion of pulc feat prvatizaon akes wo forms: an elct form hat denie pocal

rights to cerain part of he popuaton on sexua socal or ethncounds; and an mpc form hat restrics the sphere of cizenship to adenite se of nsiutons prolems agent and procedures While theformer appears outdaed he West he second i a contemporary sueof major imporance. Over he as 0 years oh he sof name of modezaion and the candd name of neoconservatve evouion haveeen used to effec a reversal of the democrac proces that had roadened the pulc sphee y tung matters of prvae life such a workhealh and penons no pulc conces related o equa ctzenshp

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e sakes behin the reform of he socia or he wefare stae aremuch greaer han he baance between the pubic an private provsioof servces an ules. The sake ha lies beh the way in which work

a healh are reguae the parcular unersaning given o hecommon of he communy acing a ne between a poitical sphere ofcizenship an a social sphere rue by pvae arrangemens also meanseing who i abe an who unable to aress public aars

the wner of 995 in France here was a ong pubc ransport workers srike oupouring of renan an Straussian argumens soughto portray hese workers as invuas ou o proec their own pvatean immeiae nerests o the etment of the poiical earch for the

common goo an he poical abiity o ac in the nteres of fuuregeneraons However he course of he strke, t became ncreasinglyear tha s main objec was to ecie whether a specic group of menan instiuons ha he excusive privilege of eterming he future ofthe communy. The canonica stincion beween he poica an thesocial is n fac a tincion between hose who are regare as capabeof takng care of common probems an the future, an those whoare regare as beng unabe o think beyon privae an mmeiae

conce. e whoe emocraic process i about the placemen ofthat bounary

shal conue by reung to my sartng pon e queson was:how are we to unerstan he paraox hat ses emocracy in opposionto itef? How are we o move from oft-repeae aemens about theuncertainty of its name an the conraicon of s acuaity o a moreraica ineretaon of emoac self-ifference? Spees e Ma,Dera commens o Frans Fukuyamas hes abou the hisoricaachevement of lberal emocracy aiming to re-open he gap uneeahhe latters ef-satise triumphaism: t mus be· cre out at a timewhen some have the auay o neoevangeize in he name of he ieaof a iberal emocracy hat ha naly realize isef as the ea of humanhisory: never have violence inequality exclusion famne an thuseconomic oppression aece as many human beings n he hsory ofhe worl an of humany 12 To re-open the gap, Derra contrats aemoca to come to a emocracy which has reache sef or reache isse A emocracy to come, as Derra sees i not a emocracy that wilcome in the fuure bu a emocracy emplote whn a ierent time, aifferent emporal pot. The me of a emocracy to come is the time of

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a pomis hat has o b kpt vn hough - and psly bcaus itcan nv b fuld. is a dmoacy hat can nv 'ach islf cachup with slf caus t invovs an int opnnss to tha which

coms - whch also mans a nnt opnnss to th Oh o hnwcom

I cannot but ag wh ths pncpl Dda cotasts anothdmoacy to socalld libal dmocacy placng wo mpoalts inth sam im and two spacs in h sam spac Howv th pcsnau of th poblm ls n h way n which h wo dmocacsa st in oppositon Dida placs liba dmoacy as a fom ofgovnt on on sid and h nni opnnss o th nwcom

and wa fo h vnt hat vads al xpcaon on th oh In myviw somthng gts lost n his opposiion twn an instittion and atansndental hoon at disappas is dmocacy as a pacc adsappas s h poltca invnton of th Oh o th heteron hat ish polical pocss of sujctvaion whch contnualy cats'nwcoms nw subjcts hat nac h qual pow of anyon andvyon and constuc w wods about communty i h gvnmmon wod To igno h poltcal pow of heteolo is o tap

onsf i a smpl opposiion wth 'lial dmocacy on th onsd - which acualy mans olgachy mbodying th law of th slf -and a 'dmoacy to com on h oth concvd as th tm andspac of an uncondtonal opnnss o h vn and to othss. In myvw hs amounts to dsmissing poliics ad o a fo of subsanializaon of ohss Dsmssing h algd substantalzaton of h sftha occus in dmocacy hn lads o a symmtca fom o substanalzaon of h Oth - h vy hamak of what can b calld hconmpoay thica tnd Rfncs to th vn and o th 'nnispc fo othss contastd to dmoatc atonomy, a commonpacs of h cun hical nd Notwithstandng hs fncscan ntd diffntly and lad to vy dssmla conclusons.

L us consd fo nsanc JaFan�os Lyotads nptaon ofh Righs of th Oh whch h psnd duing an Amnsy Intaona lcu on human ights 13 Fo Lyoad th 'inni spc fo ohss mans odinc o h pow of th Oth - b it h Fudaning o h Judaic Law - of whch th human bing is a hostag o slavO hs adng h dam of Enighnmnt ad of mancipaon u outto undind by a pcous wll to dny h aw of honomy

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which he aeges lies at he oot of mode toaitaaism ad the Nazgeocde The upshot is ha he Righs of the Ohe ulimatey povdea jusio fo he miliay campais agais he axis of Ev Ehics

Otheess ad he ie espec fo Otheess heeby ecome aso of 'ew Gospe, wokg to legtmae the pacce ad ideoogy of'leal democacy

Such a ieetato of the Leviassia cocept of he Ohe adof he ethica ted is o be sue vey dieet to Deidas way ofthikg I sak cotast o Lyoad Deda tes ehical ijucto to ahozo of emapaio cleay opposig messac pomse to obediece to he Law But i ode to avoid ay peempive deicato

of he eve the ohe o the ie he has pefom a edesssupplemeve pocess of decosucio cossigou ad apophansisThe ehical ovestaemet of oheess as I see i ecessay leads to avacllato betwee hose two teeaos eihe a asseo of aadical aw of heeoomy whch utmately suppos he campais ofthe sodes of God o a ie ask of cossg out all peempiveideticatos of the Othe

the ed Deidas cocepuazao gves both oo lite ad too

much o democacy Too te because demoacy is moe ha the saepactce of 'ibeal demoacy Too much because is less ha heie opeess o the Othe Thee is ot on ite opeess tooheess bu stead may ways of scbg the pa of he ohe my ow wok I have ted o cocepualze demoaic pactce as thescpio of he pat of those who have o pat whch does ot meathe 'exuded bu aybody whoeve Such a iscptio s made ysubjecs who ae 'ewcomes who alow ew objecs o appea ascommo coces ad ew voces o appea ad to e head I thasese democacy is oe amog vaous ways of delig with otheesss ow iveos of subjecs ad objecs ceae a specc tme - heboke tme ad emiet egacy of emacpaio my vewwe ough o hk ad ac i ths oke tme sead of ivokig amessiasm

We shoud ot oe he evese side of my posiio Deda spoke ata mome ad fo a tme whe he vey atue of he 'beak became assue ad he folowg queso emeged ca the gue of the emo, ast has hheo ee payed ou i s vaous guises o the stage of heatostae mee he demads of a tme whe potcs must be hought

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DOE DEMOCRACY MEAN OMETHING? 

in osmopolan tms? Whil h ssu of h 'disappaan of natonsas s dbaabl w annot dny tha dmoay today must om toms wh a osmopolan od Didas answ is to al fo a 'nw

ntatonal Bu th foms hat his nw Inaonal an and mustak on a no a main issu in my vw is whh i wl bonptualizd in poltal o 'hial tms If w onptalz it poliialy thn th nni sp fo th oh annot ak th fom of aninni wat fo h Evnt o th Mssiah but nstad th dmoatshap of an othss ha has a muplty of foms of insipon andof foms of ataton o dissnsus

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CHAPTER THREEWho Is he Subjec of the Rghs of Man?

The queston raised by my ile ook on a new ogeny during the asdeade of the wenieth entury The dssiden movemen n the SovietUnion and Easte Europe had just rejuvenaed he Righs of Man orHuman Rghts no ong before in he seventes and eghtes the'formasm of hose rghts had been one of the rs argets of the youngMa he rejuvenaton took on an added signane he Sovie

Empire olapsed i seemed hey had ome o take ther revenge andthey began o appear as he harer of an rrepressible movement leadngowards a peaeful posthistoral word in whh gobal demoraymoves handinhand with the globa market of the lbera eonomy

We know ha hngs did not exay tu out hat way In susequenyears the new landsape of humaniy freed from uopan oalaansm tued no an arena led with new oubreaks of ehn onland slaughter of reious fundamenaisms and of raal and xenopho

b movemens The territory of 'poshstoral and peaefu humantyproved o be that of new gures of he Inhuman And he Right of Mantued ou to be he rghts f the righes of he popuaons hunedout of ther homes hased from her land and hreatened wh ehnisaugher These soaled Righs inreasingy presented themseves asthe rghs of vims the rights of hose unabe to exerse heir rghts oreven o aim any n her own name o ha eventualy her ghts hadto be upheld by ohers The ost of doing so was the shaerng of the

edie of Ineaiona Rights arried out n the name of a new rgh to'humantaran interferene iself uimaely no more than he rghtto invasion

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WHO I E E OF E RIG OF MAN? 

A new suspicion ths arose: what lies behind ths srange shft omMan o Hmanity and om Hmanity o the Hmaniarian? The ealsbjec of he Rights of Man had ued no tha of Hman Rghs. B

he ams being made i he ame of sch rghts apeared dsncybiased or disored. The Marxist fom of critiqe cold no be revved,obvosly; insead anoher form of suspcon was resscaed n ts place:namely, tha the 'man of he Righs of Man was a mere asacion andhat he only eal rghts belonged to 'citizens the righs atached o anaona commiy as sch.

Ths same poemica satement was rs made by Edmnd Brkeagaist he Fench Revolon1 and laer revived mos sgnicantly, y

Aendt in her ook ed The Oigins of Totaliianm he chaperdevoed to 'Pelees of the Rghs of Man, she eqates he asracedness of 'Mens Rgh� with the conete situaon of the refgeepopulaons leeing ove Europe afer the Frst World Wa. These poplaons she arges, were deprived of righs because they wee made pony of 'men wthot any naonal community to ensre hem. Arendtfond n hese 'men the 'body to match he very absrac nate ohman ghs. She expresses the paadox as folows: he Righs of Man

are the ghts of those who are ony hman beings, whose only remainingpropery s hat of eng hman as sch. other words, hey are heights of those who have no rights, he mere mockery of a gh.

The very possibility of his eqaion resdes n Arendts idencaon ofhe polical sphere as a specic realm saraed om ha of ecessity.thin his amework, abstract life can mea 'deprived life, a 'privaelfe trapped in ts 'diocy, as opposed to he life of plic acion, speechand appearance. acal fac, his ciqe of 'asrac rights s a ciqeof demoacy. rests on the assmpon that mode demoacy wasspoit from the beginning becase of the pty of revolonaes for hepoor; in othe words, ecase of thei confson eween two types ofeedom: polical freedom, opposed to dominaon, and socal freedomopposed o necessity he vew, he Rghts of Man were not, as Brkehad aimed, he idealis fanasy of revolonary dreamers; they were heparadoxical rghts of the privae poor, de-politized ndividual.

Ths anayss, aculaed over 0 years ago, seems talor-made, 0 yeasae o deal with he new 'pelexies of he Righs of Man on he'hmanitaan sage. However is mportan o pay ose aenono wha allows i to 'deal with hese perpexties, namely Arends

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conceptztion of certin ste of excepon In sking pssgefrom the chper on the peexes of he Rghs of Mn she wes hefolowng bot he rghess: 'Their pight is no th they e not eq

befoe he lw b ht no lw exsts for them; not ht they reoppressed b h nobody wnts to oppress them.3

The semen h 'nobody wns to oppress hem s piny conempos tone s qe exordnry. It s s if these peope were giyof not even beg ble to be oppressed no even worhy of oppressonThe contenon th thee ests sion nd ss 'beyond oppression beyond ccont n erms of conic nd represson or w ndvioence hs stke h we need o be wre of. For the fct is tht

there were people who wnted o oppress hese refgee popions ndlws to do so The noon of 'ste beyond oppresson rees less orelity nd moe to Arendts rgid opposition beween the elm of hepoiticl nd he relm of privte lfe wht n the sme chpter she cls'he dk bgrond of mere gvenness4 In oher words this noonccords perfecly wh her rchi-poiti. Lter however this posionprdoxly enogh oered me of descripion nd lne of gmenh wod prove sefl for depoiticizing sses of power nd repres

sion It enbed wy of plcing them n sphere of exceponliy htws no longer polic b of n nhrpoocl sedness stedbeyond poiticl dssenss This theorecl inverson from rchipoliticsto stnce of depoliicizon s key fere of the hnking to hveemerged om conemporry reecions on the Rights of Mn hehmn nd mes gins hmnity The nverson is mos ceryillstrted by Agmbens heozon of bopolics notby in HomoSace. Agmben trnsfoms Aendts eqon o prdox by mensof series of sbstitios tht eqe it rst with Focs theoryof biopower nd second wh Cr Schmtts thory of he ste ofexcepion (Asnahmezstan

In st step his rgmen reies on Aends contrs between of twoknds of lives itself bsed pon the disncon beween two Greek wodszoe, menng 'be physologicl life nd bios, mening 'fom of life obios polticos, th s 'the lfe of gre cons nd noble words In herview he Rights of Mn nd mode democrcy res on confsionbetween those wo kinds of lfe which ress ltimely in the redcionof bios to bre zoe. Agmben connects Arendts iqe with Focspolemcs on 'sexl liberon. In L olont e savoi nd fat fene

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WHO I THE E OFTHE RIGH OF ?

la o5 Foucau argues hat he desire for sexual beraton an tospeak out abou sex are i fac eecs of a power machne tha acualyurges people o speak abou sex. They are eecs of a new form o power,

no onger the old form of soveregnty tha holds a power of Life andDeath over s subjecs, bu a posiive power of conrol over biologcalife Accordig to Foucaut even ehnic eansng an he Hoocaust arepart of a 'postve bopoca programme more han they are revivals ofhe sovere right to ll.6

Agamben uses ths conceptualizaion of bopotcs o tu he aw ofmode demoacy as it is dened by Arendt no he postvty of a formof power Biopolics becomes democracys accompce hat i, par of he

mass indvdualisc conce wth indiviual ife an of he technoloesof power tha hod sway over bioocal lfe as su From here Agambenpushes higs furher. Were Foucau contrass mode biopower wihold sovereign power Agaben has them converge by equatg Foucaultsncept of 'control over lfe wih Carl Schmits noton o he sae ofexcepon. For Schmtt polcal auhory ns is princpe in he sateof expion meaning that soveregn power s the power o ecde on hesate in whch norma egalty s suspende Tis bos own o sayng thate aw hinges on a power of ecson ha s outsde of law. Agamben forhs part dentes he state of excepon wt he power of ecision overlife. Then he correates te excepionaliy of soveregn power wih heexcepon of life hat is with ha bare or nake fe whc according o, captured a zone of ndiscebliy or of indisncion beween zoa bos between natural an human fe.

Soveregn power and bopower are hereby tued from an opposonino an ieny The opposon between absoute stae power an heRighs of Man also vanshes. e Rigs of Man made t seem ha naural lfe was he source and bearer of rghts and birh was the prncpe ofsoverety. This identy t is alleged, was protece for a ong ime bythe dentcaton of birth - or naviy - wth naionaty or gure of hecitzen. But he vas lood of refugees which emerge in the twenethcentury appareny shatered he entty and stpped of naonaltysveil reveale the nakeness of bare lfe as he seet of he Righs ofMan. Simlary, he programmes of ethnc eansng and exerminatonreveale hemseves o be he radcal atemp to raw he full consequences of ths splitng. Demoacys secret - he see of moepower - can ten emerge nto ful view Sate power, now is concreey

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conceed wth bare life, itseH no longer the lfe of he subjec ha thispower wants to repress, nor the fe of the enemy tha t has to k bu,Agamen says, a 'sacred life - a ife aken wthin a sate of excepton, a

life 'beyond oppression.8 Bare lfe is a lfe beeen lfe and death, ideniable wth he life of the condemned man or tha of someone n a coma

his anayss of the olocast, Agamben emphasizes he coninuybetween wo hngs: scenic expermenaion on fe 'nworthy ofbeng lved tha s, on abnormal, mentaly handcapped or condemnedpersons - and the panned exermnaton of he Jews, posited as a popuaon expermenaly redced to he condton of bare life9 The Nazaws whch suspended he consuonal aries ha guaraneed freedom

of assoaion and expresson are hus able to be conceived as he blatanmanfesaion of he sate of excepon and as mode powers hddensecre. he same stroke, he oocas bens o appear as the hddentruh of the Righs of Man, hat is, of he sate of bare, undereniaedlfe whch s he correate of bopowe. The nomo' of modety canthen be gured as the camp, subsumng, under one and he same noton,the refugee camp, the zones where legal mgrans are parked by naonalauthories and the Na death camps

Polica conlc, propery speaking, thus comes o be repaced by acoreaion beween soveregn power and bare fe. e camp becomes aspace of he 'absolute mpossbiliy of decding beween fact and law, ruleand applcaion, excepion and rule.1° becomes a space n wh heexecuioner and he vcim, and the German body and the ewsh body,appear as wo pars of he same 'biopoliica body ny kind of aim toghs or any struggle enacng righs s hus trapped from the very ousen the mere polarty of bare lfe and the sae of excepton, a poariy thatappears as a sort of ontological destny we are al, every snge one of us,n the same suaton as the refgee in a camp Differences betweenoataranism and democracy grow fan and polica pracce us otto be always aready caugh n the bopoltcal rap

Agambens view of the camp as he nomos of modety may seemremote from Arendts vew of poltca acton My suggeston hee,however, s tha he radcal suspenson of poltcs n he excepion of baefe is acually the umae consequence of Arendts archpoliica poston, hat i of the atemp o preseve he poltcal from contaminaionby the pvate, the soca or apolica lfe. Ths aempt depopuaes thepoliical stage by sweepng asde ts always ambiguous acors, and thus

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WHO I THE E OFE RIGH OF MAN? 

by noorng the poll exeion ino se power osie s thtwhh sns fe to fe wh bre lfe. Tis oposiion s hen tuento omlemetty The wil to preserve he rem of pure poliis

ulmtely hs pols vnish n the pure relonship between stepower n iniviul lfe. So pols gets eque wih power n poweritse ges inesingy onsrue s n overheming hsoroontooesny from whih only Go n sve us

To espe is onolog trp he queson of he Rights of M morepresely the queson of her subje n therefore of the subjet opols hs o be reworke n poliis ple on n entrely ifferenfooing Bering is i min le us ook gin Arens rgument -

whi Agmben bsily enorses oneng he emes of the Rghtsof Mn n of he Citzen Arent sees hese lter s beng ugh in qunry w n b �resse s folows: rst, he rghs of he zenre the rghts of mn bu he righs of mn re he rghs of the nonpoliize person or he righs of hose who hve no ghs whihmens they moun to nohing; seon he rghs of mn re the ghtsof he zen, he rghts the o the f of being izen of suh orsu onsuonl ste w mens ht ey re he rghts of hosewho hve ghts n we en up tuoogy.11 So eher he Rghts oMn re the rghts of those who hve no rghs or hey re he rghsof those who hve rghts Ether voi or tuoogy n in ether se eepive trik suh s he ok tht Aren bus Ts ok s solhowever, oy f we py the rie of sweeping se he ir ssumponht espes the qunry. This ssumpton n se s folows theRights of Mn re the rghs of those who hve no the rghs ht theyhve n hve he rghs th hey hve no. Let us to try to mke senseof ths sentene. It er tht the equton t eresses nno beresolve by the entton of single x e Rights of Mn re no herights of snge subje ht woul one be he soure n he bererof e righs n woul ony use he rghs ully possesse ere thshe se hen t wou be esy to prove s Arent oes tt o suhsubje exss. The relonship between he subje n righs howevers o so esly ispense wh.

e reson s th he reltonsip between he subje n rghs sene hrough oube negion. The subje of ghts is the subje or more urtey he proess of subjevion ht bges he intervlbetween the two forms of exisene of those rghs In the rs pe

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rghts re nsptons writng o he communiy s ee nd equl, nds such re no merely the predces o nonesing being Acusiuons o ghessness my gnsy hem bu they re no merely n

bstrc del, stued r rom the gvens o the stuton. sted heyre prt the conguron o he gven whch does not only conss in stuion o inequlty but lso contins n inscpion h ves equlty orm o visbty.

In the second plce, he Rghts o Mn re he ghs o those whomke somehing o th nscpion decidng no only to use ther rghsbu lso to buld cses o ver he power o he inscpion. A issue i

no simply o check whether rghts re conrmed or denied by reliy

bu to bring to ligh wht heir conrmton or den men. Mn ndciizen do not dese collecons o indvduls Mn nd izen repolic subjecs nd s su s re not dente colecivites, bu suusnmes ht set out queston or dispue (ge bou who i ncudedn heir count. Correspondngy, eedom nd equliy re not redictesbeonng to dente subjecs Poliicl redctes re open redictes:hey open up isute bou wht they entil whom they conce ndn whch cses

e Declrton o Righs stes tht l men re bo ree nd eqund tus rises quesion bout he sphere o impemention o hesepreictes Answering, like Arend, th hs sphere s ht o ctzenshp,o poltcl lie sepred om ht o prive lie resolves the probemin dvnce For the ssue s o know precisey where o drw he lineseprng one ie rom the oher ol conce ht border n cvywhi coninuly pces i in queson. Dung he Fren Revoluion revolutonry womn, Oyme de Gouges, mde this oint very erymousy sttng ht i women were enied to go o the scod, thenthey were lso entled to go o he ssembly.

Her poin ws tht women who were ppreny bo equl were nc not equ s izens They coud nether voe nor stnd or elecion.The prosipton, s usu, ws justied on the grounds ht women ddnot t the puriy o poltcl e becuse hey beonged o prvtedomestc lie e common good o he communty hd to be kep prtrom he ctvtes, eelings nd ineress o prvte lie Olympe deGouges rgument showed th t ws no possble to drw the borerseprtng bre lie nd poli e so ery A les one point existedwhere bre le proved o be poltcl: when women were sentenced to

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WHO I THE E OF THE IGHT OF MAN? 

deth s enemes of he reoion H they cod ose ther bre fehnks o potcy moted pbc jdgment, ts ment th eenheir bre ife - heir ife from the stndpon of is being be o be p to

deth - ws potc If hey were s eq 's men nder he gotne,ten they hd the righ o the whoe of eqty, ncdng eq prcpon n poic fe

The dedcon wod no be endorsed by wmkers, ndeed heycod not een her i Bt t cod be enced n he process of wrong,n he consrcion of dissenss A dissenss s not conc of nerests, opnons or es; t is dson nsered in 'common sense dspte oer wht s gen nd bo the frme whn wh we see

something s gen. Women, s potc sbjecs, se o to mke wofod semen. ey demonstred th they were depred of he rghstht they hd thnks e Derion of Rghts nd th throgh heirpbc cion th hey ha the ghs denied to hem by he consition,h they cod ena those rghs. They ced s sbjecs of the Rghs ofMn n he precse sense ht I he menioned ey ced s sbjecstht did not he he rights ht they hd nd tht hd the rghs ththey hd not. This s wh I c dissenss the ptng of two words n

one nd the sme word e qestion of the potc sbjec s notcgh beween he od term of Mn nd the pentde of the cizenwth s c rghts. A potc sbjec s cpcty for stng scenesof dssenss.

H here s posie conent to ths term, t consiss n the rejecton ofeery derence ht dsingshes beween peope who e n derentspheres of estence, he dismss of cegoes of tose who re or renot qied for poc fe The ery dierence beween mn nd

ctzen s no sgn of disjcon prong th rghs re ether oid ortooc is he openng of n nter for poi sbjeciton.Poc nmes re ios nmes, whose extension nd comprehensonre ncern, nd which for ht reson open p the spce of tes orercon. Poc sbjecs bd s cses of ercon They pt hepower of poc nmes h is, her exension nd comprehenson -o the est Not ony do they bng he inspon of ghs o bergins stons in which those rghs re dened bt they consrc hewod n whch those ghts re d, ogether wh te word in whichthey re not They consrct reion of inson nd reion ofexson.

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e gener nme for l te ses sge s ses of verionis e mo, or e peope At te en of Homo Sac, Agmen empsizeswt e ls e onsnt mgy of te onep of e people,

one te nme o e poitil oy n e nme of te lower ssesHe sees in is mguy te mrk of orreton etween re ife nsovereiy2 Bt te emo or e peope oes not men te lowersses, nor bre lfe Demoy is no te power of te poor epower of ose wo ve no qon for exerising power. Book of e La, Plto iss l e qions t re, or mke ims to e,sores of legitime ority.13 S re te powers of msters overslves, of te o over e young, of te ee over e iorn n so

on. A te en of te is owever tere s n nomly, qitonfor power t e ls ronlly Gos oie mening pre ne: epower gie rog te sng of ots, wose nme s emory.Demoy is e power of ose wo ve no spe qltion forrlng, exept e f of vng no qlton. As I neret , temo te poitil se s s s to e ene w te otlyme y tose wo ve o 'qltion I ll e on of enone or te pr of ose wo ve no pr oes not men

e popltion of e poor it refers to sppemenry pr empypr sepres e poli ommny from e ont of te prs ofe popon.

Agmens rgumen i of pee w te ss opposition etweente lson of soveregy nd s re onten. is is wy e ompletelymsses te og of pol sevon Poli ses re lses t insre te ont of te noune s spplemenPols s not spei spere of po lfe, sepre om oersperes, sine t s o sepre e woe of te ommnity om ielTe ommnity n e onte in two oppose wy. Tere i e poiewy of onting s e sm of its prs (t is, of its grops n of eqltions t e of tem er); n ere i e poll wy ofonng it s te pplement e o e sm (s e pr of ose wove no pr, n t s to sepre te ommnty from its prs,pes, fnons n qltions Te pole on is me on tess of sn speres, poiis is proess, no spere

Te Rgs of Mn re e rigts of te emo, wi i e generinme of poitil ses, t s, ses t, in spei senes ofssenss ent te pro qlition of tis spplemen. Wen

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WHO I THE ECT OF THE RIGHT OF ?

you assign hose rghs to one ad the same subjec, his process disappearsenrely. Not ony is there no man of he Rghs of Man, there s no needfor one. The srengh of those ghts lies in he ba-ad-forth movement

between he intial inscripon of the ght and he issensual stage onwhi it is pu to he est. his s why he sujecs of te Soviet constuionwere able o make reference to the Rights of Man in opposition to theaws tha denied ther eecveness This s aso why hey can be invokedby the citizens of sates ruled by reious aw or goveenal at, theclandestine mmigrans hed n ranst zones in weathy counries orpopulations n refugee camps When such groups can and there areaways indviduas among them hat do make somehing of these gh

o consruc a dissensus against the denial of rights hey suer, theyrealy have these ghs

You are ony compeld o claim, as Aredt did, tha rea ghs arein fac those that are given o he citizens of a nao by virtue of thereonng o t and garanteed by he protection of a state, if youpresuppose ha rights belong o dente or permanen subjects. hispresupposon aso obiges you o deny he reaity of al strgges ousdeof the frame of he naional constituona stae and to caim hat naona

rights are merely 'abstrac an asraceness revealed in he siuaon othe 'merely human person deprived of them. The conclusion howeveris a vcious circe, snce it merey re-asserts what was presupposed at theoutset, namely tha here s a dvson between those who are and thosewho are no worthy of engagg n poiics.

But he ac of denfing the subjec of he Righs of n wih hesujec depved of ghs s not ony the vicious circle of a theor; it isalso, ad always he result of an eecive re-conguration of he political

eld, of an acual process of depoiticizao. Today, this process goes bythe name of consensus, whose meaning far exceeds the simple atemptto setle polical conlics reasonably an praccay hrough forms ofnegotiaon and agreement whereby each pary s idealy aloed smaxmum possibe share taking ino accout the neres of he oherparties. Consensus consss in the aemp to dismss pocs by expelingsurpus subjecs and replang hem wth rea partners, socia and ideny groups and so on e resul is hat conics are tued into problemso be resoved by eaed experse and the negoiated adjusmen ofineress. Consensus means closng spaces of dssensus by pugng inervas and paching up any possble gaps beween appearance and reality

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aw an fac. In tis way he abstrac and iious Rights of Man and ofhe cizen are provisionaly tued nto rea rghs hose of rea groupswith a soid identy and a recognize place n he society.

In this way poiica dissensus over partaking n the commo of thecommunty ges reduced to a distrbuon in wich each par of he socialbody supposedly obains the share to which i s enled. Accorng othis logic posive aws and rghs are ineasngy nely mouded o the diversy of soa groups and o mach he speed of changes of sociaife and invidua ways of beng. e aim of consensual practce is toproduce an dentity beween law and fac such hat the former becomesdenca wih the naura ife of society. n oher words consensus conssts

n he reucion of emoacy o the way of life or etho of a sociey hedwelng and ifestye of a specic group.

Consensus is he process underlying odays continua shrnkage ofpoiica space. The ater ony ever emerges in he very gap beteen theabstrac ieralness of he rghs and the polemc over her verication.This shrikage has occurred to such an exten tha these rights nowacualy appear empty no onger of any use o us. And when rights areof no use hen jus ike chariable persons do wth their old clohng

hey are given o the poor Appearing useess these righs are sen abroadalong with mecine and ohes o people deprived of mene othesand rgts. As a resul of hs process the Rights of Man become theghs of those who have no ghs he rghts of bare human beingsexposed o inhuman repression ad conions of exstence. The Rights ofMan become humanaan righs ta i he ghs of those wo cannoenc hem of vcims whose rights are toaly dened Nevertheess heserights are not empy; polical names and politica paces never becomemerely void. The vod is aways led by somebody or somehig else; bybecoming he rghts of hose who canno enac he the Rights of Mando not become nu and void hese ghts are not ruy those of hevcims hey can become the rights of ohers.

Under the auspis of he Oxford Lecures on he Righs of Man organized by Amnesy neiona n 993 Lyoard gave a paper ced eRights of he Oher 14 The heme of the rghts of he other has o beunderstood as an answer to the question Wha do Human Rights meann he contex of the humanarian suaton? Lyotards atempt waso re-tink rghs by reg he queston of wrog For after hecolapse of he Sovet Empre and the disapponting outcomes of wha

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ws suposed to be the nl step on he wy to unvers deoy, theissue of renking wrong' bee nesingly insisten Renewedoubreks of r nd relgous hred nd voene of new es

gins huniy - whh ould not be ssied to spe ideoogy,ent th the ries of defun otlirn reges needed o rehought A new eerged th hey were not so uh he speiees of perverse deooes nd oulw reges' s the nfesonsof n nnie wrong, one h ould no be ouned for in ters ofthe opposion beween deory nd nideoy, of legtieste or wless ste, bu wih ppered s n bsoue evil - nunthnkble nd rredeebe evil.

Lyords oneuzion of the Inhun is one of the ost snt exples of th bsoluzion. h Lyord did ws spthe de of he hunto two. He rgued ht he fors of repressonnd ruey, or siutons of dsress, ht gh be led inhun', reuly the onsequenes of beryl of noher Inhun, his te good' one e good' Inhun is Oheess s su, the prt n us thtwe nnot ser, wih y be led birth or nfny, he Unonsous,the Lw or God e Inhun s irreduble oheess, the prt of heUnbe o whh he hun beng is, s Lyord sys, hosge orslve Absoute ev bens wit the tep to e he Untbe, wththe tep o deny is hosge siuon, nd o dsss our dependenyon he power of he Inhun n order o buld world th we ighser opeey.15

Totl stery, he rgued, ws the eetive dre of the Enlighenentnd revoluonry enipion, nd s live nd wel in onteporrydres of erfe ounon nd rnsprey The ful reveonnd rezon of he dre, however, only e bou n the NziHolous; h s, n the externon of he people whose Very issont i o ber wtness to he suon of hosge, to obey the lw of Otherness, he w of n nvsble nd unneble God. sees o follow,then, tht es ginst huniy re n f es th result frosserons of hun freedo whh deny the funden deendenyon he Untbe On Lyotrd's vew, then, our response o he 'hunrn' siuon of dened rghs ought o be o uphold he rights of heOther, the rghts of he Inhu. He ontends, for expe, tht he rigtto spek ought to be denied wih te duy of nnounng soethignew'.6 Bu he 'new' to be nnouned is nothng but he eo

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power of the Oher ad our own icapacty to he duty of announngit. Obedience to he ghts of the Oher sweeps asde the heterogeneity ofpoliical dssensu n he name of a more radcal heterogeneity.

Just as we saw wih Agamen, hi means niig wrong andrepacng i poltca procesing wth a sort of onoloca destny hapermts only of 'resisance Such ressance s no manfesaton offeedom, however Resisance here means faihfulness o the law ofOtheess thereby ruing out any dreams of 'human emancipaionThis s the phlosophica undersanding the righs of he Oher Bu heycan aso e understood in a ess sophisicated and more rival ense asfolows: f those who suffer nhuman repression cannot exercise he

Human Rgh that are her las recourse then i is up o others to inhetthese rghs and exercise them i their pace The name for his i the'rght o humantaian terference - a ght that some naton havearrogated ecause hey am very often agains he views of humanitarian organizaons hemselves tha t wl help the victimized populaionsThe 'rght o humanitaran inerference hen i ike he retu of hedisused rights sen to he ighles ba to ther senders is movements no a nul tansaction. In beng reued he dsued rght acquie a

new use one which effects on he word stage wha consensus achieveson naiona stages an erasure of the oundary between aw and fact awand lawlesnes e human ighs hat are 'retued are he rght ofthe asolue vctim socaled ecause he s the vicm of an absoute eviThe ight hat are retued o he sender - and avenge - are akin to apowe of innte justce agains he of Ev.

The expresson 'nnie jusice was dismssed y the US. goveentas an inapproprate erm oly a few days afer t was pu forward but ome i seemed rather tg nnie jusice i no only a ype of jusiceha dismse priples of Inteatonal Law which hemselves prohibiinterference n he 'domesic aars of anoher sae is a jusice hateases al he distnctions which formery dened the ed of justce general that s hoe beween aw and fact ega punshment andprvae realiaion jusice/policing and war al of which are reduced to astark ethcal conlct beween Good and Evl

The quesion of ethcs is on our agenda more than ever. Thi phenomenon is seen y ome as a reu o he fouding spiri of he communythat sustains postve laws and poiical agency I ake que a derentview of i. To me he new reign of ethc aou he dsoluon of al

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WHO I THE E OFTHE RIG OF ?

legal dstictos ad poical ervals of dissesus the iie coictof Good versus E. The ehical red s i fact a sate o excepiowhich cotrar o is satus i Agames work, is o the realizao of

a puatve essece of he politca. sead t s the outcome of a erasureof he poiica the coupe of cosesua policy ad humaaapolice The theory of he stae of excepo ad the theory of the ghsof the oher tu his resut io a athopologica or otoogicaldesty ad race i ack o he iescapable premaurato of the humaaimal I sumit, however that he ooloca destiy of the humaaimal s a story that oly works to shroud he real ask before us: that ofuderstadig who the Righs of Ma is ad of rethkig polics today

were i out of is very lack.

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6

CHAER FOURCommunsm: From ctualty to Inactualty

I shall sar wth he ambguiy of our onferene o: what doe imean to alk abou the atualty of ommunim?1 'Atualty an meanwo thngs First, i an mean 'toalty, so tha somehng i aualif the situaton we haen to be onfroned wth i as robem orsoluo - on our agenda Seond t an mean 'realiy so tha omehing i aual not only beause s 'on the agenda and hereby ossbe

or otenial bu beaue i aready has a reaiy an eetivity here andnow The synta of he 'atuaiy of ommunsm means tha ommunsm s not only desrabe - as a resone o he vioene, nusie orirraionalty of atalsm - bu hat a ertain sense t already extCommunsms atuaiy no ony a tak; i s aso a roess

The queson is hus as folows: how an these two forms of atuaiy made o onverge fat however he answer o ths queston isaready resuosed in our dea of ommuism self Our nterrogaons

ito ts atualty rest on two Marxian axoms e rs is hat ommunism is no an ieal bu that t an atual form of if For n onras odemoay whih merey rreent reedom and equaiy n he searaeform of aw and sate ommunism tus them nto a sensory reaiyembedding hem in he forms of an existing ommon word The eond ha hs form of lfe s not he gathering of welmnded ndvduasatemtng to exerimen wih oetve ife as a resonse o seshnesor injusie Insead t s he ful imemenaion of a form of univeraly

ha s already at work soiey is he fulment of a oleve ratonal ower aready n esene - abeit n he orm of ts onrary in hearuarity of rvae nteret As Marx ut t, the oletve fores of

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COMMNIM: FROM ACTALITYTO INACTALITY

humanity already exist n ther objecticaon n he unlatera form ofcapaist production. The only requrement, then, is to nd a form forther colecve and suectve re-appropriation.

There s a prolem of course and hat s he on tseH. o furtheraxioms have been used to skrt this difcuy. The rst posts the estence of a dynamsm a is intrinsc to he realization of hoe colectiveforces, endng to blow apart the form of pials prvateness. Thi ishe power of the 'nseparate. The second says hat he reaization of hspower is n any case nevabe as s dynamsm dssolves al he otherforms of communiy al the separae forms of communities embodiedn the stae reon and radiona socal onds. th these two axoms

he proem of the only is overtued: the colective reappropraonmpied y communism tu out to be he only form of communypoble, he one tha ·remains afer al the others have colapsed.The necessty o commnsm has been predicated on the mposbyof polc.

owever hs way of approaching he actalty of communism merelyrepeas the daectc of acuaity aready inherent o our dea of i. Thereyis communism neiher more nor less actual than it was in 187 or in9 1 7 Bu if we want to caim tha here is a conemporary peccty tohis actuaity, hen we canno simply argue ha the effects of apitalismare more unbearale or nonsensca than ever before. Insead, i ha obe demonsraed tha today communsm i more actual, more eectveinside of capitalism han ever before. has o e demonstrated hat it isactua oh as the maeriaity of a common sensory world and as theaccomplshment of an immaeral form of raonaly as he unty ofthat maeriaty and tha immateraly.

us eressed, the probem soon nds a taior-made soluon: it cane camed that commusm aready ests wihn and hanks to, newforms of capals producon. e argumen can be paraphrased afolows: today, ecause capitals production produces fewer and fewermaeria goods, and more and more servces or means of communion; and ecause its production is ineasngly less materal, it ends toshake loose s staus as appropated commodiy and deceptive fesh.Capi producon tends to become he prodcon of the oba network,consed as the sensory maeriaiy of immatera ecve integence. conemporary captaism essenaly produces rater goodsfor pvate appropriation is he nework of human communicaon, in

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which prodcon, consmption and exange are no onger separateb join togeher in te same colective process. Conseqenly, the ntenof capiais prodon sars o emerge throgh the captais form tself,

a content whch ts ot o be the same as he commnis power ofcooperave immateria labor.

This makes possible to doveai wo satemens from the CommntManeto and am tha the borgeoisie are her own gravedggers nthe same sense hat al tha s soid melts nto ar. The posmodebecoming immateral of everything ses the amework for he acaityof a sensory world tha is indisingishable from he manifestation ofcoecve nteligence And his is a the more so as he acay of cap

ast prodcon ineasingly renders al the oher forms of commnityimpossble. Commnism is held to be more 'aca than ever before insofar as he power of the captast network renders the power of or nationsaes, and he power of poica acon srrondng hem, increasglyineecve Ulimaely, hen we arrve a an dea of the acay ofcommnm whose form he inseparate ife of the mltdes emltdes, hen, sar o appear as he spreme manifestaon of teHisory of eing So we are told, commnsm today has o be onologica

This does not seem so to me, bt were it re, i wold at least need tobreak with a cerain kind of ontoogy. It wod need to break with a wayof hinking tha I cal the onto-technological tck, which consists in twoessenal operations The rst involves identifying the complex seof processes and contradcions hat frame or hisorca world withhe fllment of an ontoogical determination; in order words, with theflment of a promse or a threat impcit i the Hstory of Beingsef. The second invoves denifying the medim of ha flmen

with he operaon of some form of echnoogy, so hat the mmateraityof he process of eng can be eqaed with a material process of prodcon For more than a cenry, eecricity, radiography broadcasing,television compers and mobie phones have taken s at beingthe representaves of immaerial Inelgence in or soid and prosaicworld.

here no immatera inteligence, no aw of the Hisory of Beingabe o fse ogeher he separate forms of implementation of a colecvenelecal power e global nework of comperized neigence sone ting, the globa inteligence of capalism anoher and the socialization of someones ineeca capaciy anoher stil So ong as we do not

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COMMNIM: FROM ACTA INACT

acualy tum ino iateral beings, we continue o consue food,by cohes and use copters, hat s, objecs which ipeen hecollecve neligence of capitalis uch ore han hey do he for of

iaeal councaon - and ipeent it in he fo of nderpadfacory work, ndeaid work at hoe, andese workshops ofillega' igrans and so on. Not ony is iateral prodcon nothe whole of capitalis producon, here is nothg cearcu abothe argen ha eqates emateializaon with emmoon.

Lets ake an exape fro he ed of arsc pracice and intellecalpropery. Thry years ago, concepua artsts caied o have brokenith he fors of cooded art by no longer creang soid objecs

avalae for privae ownership, t insead specic fors for he presentaon or spaaizaon of ideas: a hole in a wall, a crack runnng througha buldng, a ine in th desert, ec And yet nelecual and artiscproperty dd no disaper; it sipy underen a dsplaceent. Artissineasngly egan o be viewed - and paid as owners and selers oideas as such. Ths ean ha inteligence itself cae to ake the paceof s producs, ipyng a radicalzaion in the dea of vate propery.The iateraly of concepts and iages, insead of doing away wh

prvae appropriation, ued ou o be its best refge, he pace where sreaity is anaoun to s selflegiaon.

This shows us hat the various fors of afestaon of colleciveinellgence do not doveal there is a mmntpower of inteligence,i is no cyberspace, bu instead he capaciy possessed y hose whoake the copuer pars and pece he together to be ae o haveheir say, no ony abou copters, abot he ssues of colecveife This power is the collecve ebodent of the capacy of anyody,he power of those who have no entitleent o exer power by hepriviege of possessing a quaiy - whether birth, wealh, science or other is he specic and paradoxical power of the unqalied peope

Long ago, Plato stigazed this power nder the nae of deocracI endeavored in La Msennte o give that a of qalicaon a posiveeaning This I dd y identifing the spposed aw pecliar o deocracy wh he principe of politcs isef For poitics eans soehngoher han he insutions of stae or he srggle for power. otics isthe conguraon of a spec toaity tha eerges as a sppleen oever collective body: hat is, the toaliy of he nconted, whi doesnot ean he exclded' bt spy anyody a

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hat sense, pocs i a speic form of he impemenaon of ineligence s a coecve form of mplemenation of an nelgencedened as tha of anyone a al of impementaon of he equaiy of

ineigence Ths means ha 'colectve ineigence s realzed n dierenforms and ha here exsts no essence of he common hat coud beimpemened n an nseparate ife or an inseparae communy Poicamplementations of equa neligence always come afer he impemenaons of other forms o the coecivzaon of inteligence, such amary commandmen, monarchy, priehood trade, ec The upshot shat hs polical impementaon appears n the form of a ien.

Disensus oes no refer to a conlc of neress, opnions or values

but to the juxapoition of two forms of he sensory impemenation ofcoecve inteigence Poitc frames a senory world of is own, a worldn whch a gene nelgence is implemened Pocs emerges as asupplemen o the sensory worlds framed y sate, mary economicreious and scholarly powers Thee latter are al pvatie powersof colecive ineigence, tha is exusive forms for appropriating isresources ocs, however frames a sensory world hat s i ownAnd does so boh rom wthin these prvate forms and aganst them

ames a nework of discourses and pracices by acuaizing hecommunism of integence va the conrucon of a dsensus, buaways whin a world structured by forms of prvatized colecveineligence. Poiti as such is accomplished n he form of a supplemenand s always at risk of beng swalowed up by one of those prvate formsand mos commony by hoe of sate power and the strugge for iPolitica dssensus ses sages for impemenng a coecive power ofinteligence, but these stages are no the foundations of a sod world ofinstuonazed equay. Poiics wl always fa o deliver on promseso impement eedom and equaity integraly.

was as a response to hs failure of pocs ha our dea o communism was bo Communsm has been conceved as the search for hepromse of freedom and equality in he form of a sensory communy ofcommon inegence that woud supersede the boundaes separangthe varous words of common experience As we know, was bo inhe interva beween wo poica revouons: the French Revouon of189 and he European revouon of 1848 The Commnt Mane waspubished jus one year before the 1848 revouions But he heorecaframework for he idea of communism tha it advances daes back

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COMMNIM: FROM ACTALITY TO INACTATY

yers erer to tme when few Germn poets nd phlosophers sethemseves nd ther non he tsk of provding response to he filure of the French Revoluon hese thnkers ssumed ht he Fren

revouiones hd fed in their endevour o shpe new word offreedom nd equy becuse they hd serched for them where heywere no to be found ht is, n the ded forms' of lws nd stte instuons hey hd fed becuse hey did no trce he problem bcko s roos nd pce quesons of eedom nd equity on their relground, nmely he congurion of the ved word he wy for such rdiclzon seemed to hve been pved by he dscovery of new formof eedom nd equly hs ws he form of freedom nd equty to

be found n he eshec sphere Kntn freeply' or equiy' ofnelgence nd sensbity, mpled n overtung of he hierrchy ofform over mter nd ofcviy over pssvty suggestng new kndof equly tht could brough o ber gnst simpe reverss of theforms of ste power

his eshec freedom cn be gven wo oppose inereionsOne css the esthetc sphere s rdiclly serte sphere of experenceht hs o be kept sepre he oher contrss th eedom to he

forms of sepre impementon of he ommon nd u i ntohe npe of new revouion to be reized n he mterliy of helved word; n other words contrsts he suplemenr nd dssensu potc communy o the rue communty

A te communiy s consensul communiy, not one in whch everbody is n greement bu one in whch sense is n greement' wth sensehe consensul communty community in which the spiul sense ofbeingn-common s embedded n he mterl sensom of everdyexperience s he ommunty of n nseprte lfe n whch here reno boundries severng polcs from economics, rt, regon or everydyife According to the sem of he esthec revouon, the root ofdomnon s sepron As result, the full implementon of freedomnd equlty ens reunfng he vrous forms of colecve intellgenceno one nd the sme form of sensory expeence hs mens tht theecve nellgence hs o re-congure he oly of he merl wordn order o m i no the produc of ts own immtel power

hs schem rs ppered n he Schiern progrmme for heesthec educon of mn A few yers lter it would become D lsteSmpogamm es een Iealsms,2 whose vsion it ws h the ving

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body of a people could be re-animated, no by the dead mechanism ofhe sate, ut y the embodiment of phlosophy in a new myhology that is, in a new farc of common ife. Ffty years after Ma ted

i io the programme for a 'human evoluon, the revolton of theprodcers overthrowng the ie of forma democracy. Now, two centurieslater i has ecome the ivng communism of the mlttdes caredaong y he iresisble expanson of he gloa newok.

So the actuaity of communism oday is sil ied o the actality of hatorginary seting o the evelasg actaiy of he paradi of the'aesthetc revuion. Unfornaey, however, he progamme to implement coective ineigence by svng o frame a specic world for i

has never rested a fee and equa soiety has reslted i one oftwo hngs: he paneary dominaion of he colective inteligenceof capialism or he asolte power of a sate herarchy porng oncaae he colectve ieligence of cooperatve abour. The aaityof commnism s sti marked by he paadi of this aestheicrevoin, y he endeavor o pece togeher the splinered memersof hman expeence. is st marked y he innie aay of isactaiy which is the actaliy of captast dominaton and hat of the

faure of he Sovie RevolutonFor hs reason t pays to u he proem around and to sart ot

om he inaali of communsm My sggeson s hat we benfrom the everlastig intempetivi of he pocess of impementng theegaitaan power of colecve inelgence with respect to every objecveprocess, every process of he unequal impementaon of coevzedneligence.

To be intempestive means at once hat y do and do not elong o aime, s as o e apian means tha you do and do no beong oa pace Being inempesve or atopan communsts means being hikers and actors of the uncondtona equaliy of anyody and everybody,bu ths can ony happen in a world in h commnsm has no actuaiy a the network framed by or commnisc thoghs and actonshemselves. There s no such hig as an 'oecve commnism alreadyat work i he forms of captalist prodction or able to e antipaed inthe logc of capiasm Captalism may wel produce more and moremmaeaty, this immaeralty wil never amoun o anythingmore than the mmaterialiy of captalism iself Capiaism ony everprodces aptalism. S, commnism is o mean anythg, t mst e

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COMMNIM: FROM ACTALIYTO INACALITY

radcaly heterogeeous to he ogic of captalis ad he ateriaity ofthe capaist word. Yet, couiss heterogeeity caot have tsetwork faed a pace other tha i that capaist word; t has o

pace ouside it.To e intempesie or a-topian couists eas occupyig a ste hat

s both iside ad outside eas aig with ou thougs, acsad strugges a certai word of ateria ad iateral couis.Ts type of separate cous ght see overy restcve. However, stead of forever predcaig cous o he deveopet ofpials, of basig he eteal acuaity of couis o that of capais, we ought to reasser the radicality of cous as a power of

saaon Wheher or ot t is overy restricive, t sees to e uciahat we experet wh its powers ay case, cous as powerof separao is he ol cous that . The gobal ecooydoes ot produce a sigle sap of t

The acuaity of cous, fac, s he acuaity of its crique. s the acualty of he critique of he very oo of acuaity isofar asthe atter presues hat capitals cotais a iheret coustpower e idea of cous caot ad has ot escaped the qua

dary hat Marx wated to sweep aside cous ca be a process ora prograe ut ot oth If t is a process, the it voves fraiga sesory word of couist itellgece; such a word, however, cabe ohig ore tha the ework aed y our afraos addeosraos of the capacity of ayody t s a prograe, the itivoves ryg to fuse he vaous words buit y he differet fors ofcolective itegece ito oe ad he sae couity Were such aprograe to exst, there would e specuaos o what t ght yeldSoe predc that it woud lead to a ew for of toaariasI ake he view, however, that if t existed, ad t was a good oe,captalsts would uy it ad explot it as they saw t

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CHAER FIVEThe Peope o the Mutitudes?

oning to a qestion om Ec Aiez abot the se to which he p thenct of the people an what inteest thee might be in sbstitting it th thatof the mlte, Rane sbmi that the nt of the people nsttive ofthe potical, insofa it the genec name fo the set of pocesses of sbjectivation that pla esentations of eqali in Politi always involvesopposing one people to anothe The ncept of the mltie, howeve eje e

negative, owing to the phobia that it manifes with espect to any negativelyne politi It is isnct om that of the peop insofa it emphasizes thatpoli not a saate hee of esten bt instea that which eesses themltiple the Law of being The nct of mlies, in fa, is pat of thelong eot to enlage the concept of the pove fos All the same, it nnotavoi the alteaies that thoght conon when ealing th qestions ofpocal sbje•

Mutitud: La Msentente ou esen an anasis of he coctetween, on the one hand, the commun, consu�d in ems of heolice as that which detemines laces and oes in accodance withdenies and on he othe, he ocess of oliica suectvaton,consued as hat whch oens singua wods of communtes oduces new eds of exeience invovng loaing sujects who dsodeeve eesenaon of laces and of oes, disuts 'he homogenei ofhe sensile etc Fa om exessing his conlct in the tems of lua

mutudes agains a unied eoe (.e. oua soveeignt educed o seesenaon) ou elate he eoe o wha ou call he 'egataianait consiutve of otca acton, isef conceived as a 'oca and

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THE PEOPLE OR THE MLTITDE? 

snguar onstruton of aes of unversalty Beyond quetons ofwtng, to wha reetons are you nspred by urren atempts to te nthe bopoa noton of the mutudes wth (a) a phenomenoogal

desrpton of he antgobalzaon movemens; and ) an ontoogaldetermnaon of ontemporary proeses of rupture wth he apaworld order?

: e people or the muudes? Before knowng whh word oronept s preferae, we mus know of what s the onept Thepeople, for me, s the name of a poa sujet, tha to say a uppement n reaon o logs of ounng the popuaon, s parts and t

whole t mple a gap wth respet to every dea of the people a thegaheng of parts of a popuaon, a oeve body movemen, andeal body naaed �overegnty, et undersand t n the sense ofthe expresson we are he people ued y the demonsraors n Lepgn Otober 1989, who were manfesty not the peope, but who enated enunaon and dsrupted s satt embodmen e peope n hssene s a gener name for the set of proesses of subjetvaon ha,enang the egaaran trat, dspue he forms of ty of the ommon

and he denes, forms of belonng, partons, e, dened by heseforms Suh proees have been staged y a sorts of snguar names,onssen and nonsstent, serous and paradoxa ones Furthermore,proesses of sujetvaon stage pols as an arte of equaty, whhs tsef not a real foundaon, sne exsts ony as the enated ondon of thee oiti of dspute The neret of the name he people,as ee t, es n sang ts ambguy Polt, n h ense, s the enateddsrmnaon of tha wh, n the las nstane, s paed under hename of the peope eher he operaton of derenaon whh nttues poa oeve y enatng egataran nonsteny or heoperaton of denty whh redues pos o the propertes of he soabody or he fanay of he orous body of the ommuny Posalways nvove one people superadded to another, one peope agansanoher

Th s perhaps the pon that the onepon of he muudes rejetsAess to h ssue s no dout boked y the moar/moeular andparanoa/shzophren oppostons For he probem s not hat hepeople s too moar, oo ensnared n fanases of he One The problem sthat he people ony ever ons n the sngulaty of aes of dvon,

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DSEN

that s tha pocs s a parclar sphere an organizaton of specicactons and tterances The concep of he mlttdes manfess a phobiaof he negaive of an potcs tha denes tsef 'agains b also of an

polics that is nothng b potca, tha s fonded on nothing oherhan the inconsstenc of he egaliaan trai and the hazardosconstrcton o is cases of eectvt Before refsng the paranodsrctre of dalistc opposiion, he sance of he mides s a sancefor a sbject of poliica acton nmarked b separaton, a 'commnissbject i he sense that it denes the spe of parclar isposi orspheres of sbjectvaton s also commnst n the sense tha wha actsn is the power of wha brngs beings o be in common The concep of

the mlttdes opposes o ha of the people the commnst njnction:politcs does no consst i a separate sphere, becase everhig ispotca, whi s to sa, n ac, tha potics expresses he nare ofeverhing the natre of he inseparae; in other words, for the conceptof the mides the commnt has o be gronded in he ver natreof being i common in the power whch paces beings in genera ncommn.

the concept of he mlttdes is dsinct from tha of the people, t

s owing o an onoocal am tha sbstanializes he egatarianprespposiion: in order not to constte isef n oppostona, reactveerms, holds tha the principle and telos of potcs has to be drawn omsomething oher han tsef. Politcal sbjects oght o express he mtple isofar as he miple s the ver aw of beig. this sese heconcep of he mitdes is par of the tradiion of poica philosoph,snce i resides n an atemp to redce poca exceptonat o theprncpe of tha whch paces beings in commnt More precise i is

part of he metapoica tradion proper to potcal philosophsmode age The specci of meapoliics es n the fact hat t smmons the precarios artices of the potca scene before the rth of themmanent power which places bengs in commt; in is idenicationof the tre commnt with the sensor and siated eectivt of thatrth. The meapoliical paradox resdes n its ideng he commonpower wih the trth of he nwled rth of the commnit, wh thenvolntar being of Being. Accordng to mode metapoliics, o desrecommnt s do so in conformt wth he 'nwled nsofar as itcomprses he ver grond o Beng For me however, he qesion s oknow whether tha whch 'gronds poli s, n fact, not aso he thng

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E PEOPE OR E MTDE? 

that reders it impossible. Otoogy, y cotrast requires a modality

of acio whose real ame is ethics: to will the uwiled This is the

procamaiopa exllence of the Niezschea ad Deeuzia ehics of he

etea retu a procamatio which y afrmig chace ad choosigwhat has ee isists o a ethics of becomig i which the an. an

of mutiple assemages is cotrasted agaist the eithe o of acive

wills pursuig their goals i oppositio to other goals

But for muple ecomigs to be substaialized as mutudes, somethig ee is required eig not oly cosist i armao; armaiomust e idetied as the immaet cotet of al egao e deploy

met of uwied eig must ot be eft to ace coecos ad heir

couter-eecuaios it must e ihabited by a immaet teleology.'Multudes is the ame for this power of superabudat eig ideed

with the essece of h ·commuity oe which, by virtue of its superabudace is edowed wih the burde of bowig apart all barrier ad

of accomplishig itself i he form of a perceple commuity ismissig

the egavity of poical subjecs meas hat he power of afrmao

must ecome a power of disrpo or, i other words, the ulmate

cotet odged iside every sate of domiao charged with overcom

ig al separatio The 'mutudes must ecome he cotet of whichhe Empire is the cotaier.

Mast heory the ame for his power of disrptive afrmao,

for the afrmave ad a power of hat which is 'without will is he

producive forces The ame has a bad repuao. The oios of'producive ad 'producio are regarded as suspicious isofar as hey

evoke the allegedly bygoe age of the facory ad the party, as well as aovery restritive ethics of work that misses the colecive power of

thought ad life aimed at y the term 'multitudes is difuty ca besee i may of he debates withi Mltes. However the particar

cotet ased to the cocept of producio matters litte. e term is

ideed so broad hat he domai of the producve forces ca have

aythig at to imported ito it eve laess ad refusal of work. The

fdamea issue here is the determiao of he power of eig i

commo as produo i other words, the idea of producio as a force

ihabited by a teeology immaet to its armative essece The auhorof Empie appea to the 'plural mutitude of produve ad eaive

subjecivies of gobalizao, to their 'peetual movemet, to the

'costellatios of siguaries that they costute, to their 'processes o

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mixture and hybdizaon' that resist reducon to any simple ogic ofcorrespondence between the systemic and he a-systemc. But the spaceaccorded to the noon of mutiple hybridizaons counts less han

the assurance rought by the concept tseH: that these producveassembages consttute the reaity of the Empre, tha the combats of hemuludes are what produce the Empire seH as the inversion of tsown image? in the way in whi, once agan, Feuerachian manconstutes hs god and then reclaims s attrbutes n order to ive a ifehat s fuly human The essenta thing s the metapoical afrmaonaccording to whch the system i endowed with a truth hat has ts owneecvity e manifest retcence wh regard to he noon of producve

deal' attests simply to the gap etween the ontooca concept of producon and s emprca avatars

Ths gap, through the consideraton of ts , is aso that whiopens up a space for reformulating the produvist' afrmaon. thssense, he concept of multudes' belongs to the great work hat stampedMarxist movemens and heory throughout the second hal of thetwenieth century the broadenng of he oon of productive force Classica Marxism had a tendeny to conceive of the producive forces as

the power of the true ale to dssipate he shadows of poitcs Leninsmis the admisson that such a vew of things fas; t he declared andpracised necessty of executing an archi-poical act to push hroughthe work that was supposed to be performed y he producve forcesthemselves The failure of this type of archi-poics engendered he thrdage of Marsm he age that no onger aimed at contrasng economictruth to poical appearance or revolutonary decson to economicfataism, but at integrang into the concept of producive forces he setof procedures that, in varous ways eate the common: om scencand tenia acvity, or eatve inteletua avty in genera, to poicapracces and al the forms of ight from or ressance to, the exstingworld order The revsonist theory of science = diret producive force'and he cultura revoluion, he student revolution and operasm count as dverse forms of this projet, whih the concept of he mutudess an atempt to radicalize insofar as t assgns a productive force' toevery form of acvty hat acs to transform a state of aars hat s,insces he loc of he content that cannot ut cause the container tobow apar ths way, the metapolitcal statemen according to whicheverything is poitca' s exacly denical to he statement everything s

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E PEOPLE OR E MLTDE? 

ecoomc ad umaely also to he archpoiica satemet alhough emits a dce hrow tself rederable as every dce hrow s aproductve force.

So wh the oto of he multtues he role ef for chace cousless ha ts deicao with ecessiy ts atproductvsm less thats iegrao ito a er opposto betwee Empire - tha s a theed of he day Capital - ad the forces tha t ueashes e essealpoi� of stregth as we as the esseal pot of fragty - resdes he afrmao of hs impea scee as he uque scee. The theoryof the muliudes is a edeavour to measure up o a eectvely globalzed word i which he people is sill cigig to he aiostae Ths

amitio s righ so og as t does o forget hat today globaizatoor otherwse - here ar wce as may aiostates twice as maymilitary, police, etc apparauses ha there were 0 years ago It is rghtso log as t does ot susume the pheomeo of massive populaodisplacemes tha resu from he repressive power of those aiosaes uder the tle of omadism Exulg omadc movemes thaalegedy overow ad break he imits of measure ad eate ewspaces spaces desced by habtua opooes y rhizomes tha are

subterraea a imposse o cotai4 eacts a ehusascmode the same operao tha was performed a compassoae modeby a sye of photography exhibied uder he le of les, which placedBralia peasas ookg for work he city aogsde ihabtas orefugee camps eeg he geocide i Rwada The omadic movemetsvoked as evidece of he explosive power of the muiudes are iessece he movemets of populaios hat have ee forced o lee hevolece of aostaes ad he dire msery to which hese failedstates had dragged hem. e cocep of the muludes s just assuscepbe to problematc detcaios as s hat of the peope Ths swhy afer Sepemer 1 1, he quesos which thved i imes whepeope liked o sis ha the people or the masses had desrefassm were revved dd the Ara owds appaudig he i Towerscaage i the ame of Alah costue a example of he mulitudes?Are al muludes good or true multudes? The emprcal multudeoce agai seemed to emerge as he exact opposie of he afrmaiveessece of the mutude Iee ecause he occurrece of massdisplacemes ewee coies ad the pheomeo of idvduasroamig at he speed of the iformao superhghway are o sufcie

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n hemselves: here s aways a point at whi afratveness is heaar of people who come together to organize a demonstraon, arefusa. hs may be the symbolic gesture of demonstrators that take a

stand against meetings of the worlds masters gahering together becausehey fee the need to give a common face to he mulpe derent formsof refusal of ths control Or t may be the Parisian church in whdemonstrators go on hungerstrke to demand papers to enabe them towork and have an identity in France. he authors of Empre are the rstto afrm t: immediately folowing their exutation of unheadof topographes a queson ases ow is it hat he acions of the mutitudebecome potal By responding that the mutitude beomes political

when t starts to confront he cenra repressve operatons f Empiredrecy and with an adequate consciousness the authors respond in themost radtona way Furthermore the sogan that hey rst give astestimony to that consciousness of globa tizenshp s a aim liftedstraght from the sans-papes movement (workers wthout papers) inFrance: papes for al at beter way here to express that rst andforemost at stake in politics are the nes of dision dening inclusonsand exclusions are operaons hat dspace forms of belonging ow

ever he ambguity resides entirey n what folows: he authos ofEmpre state hat demands for gobal cizenshp are not unreasc sncehey are the same legal and economic claims demanded by capitastnteationaizaton itself. is dscordant acord however can beunderstood n two ways: rst as the potica exhbton of he gapbetween the inteaonalism of producion as it s required by capitalist prot-making and the naonasm of the state of law whch ensuresthe conditions of explotation that is as the contradicion manfest nthe demands of the world order and second as he afrmation of a unversaity hat s mmanent to the deployment of the Empire containinghe mutitudes he multtudes can be conceved ether as processes ofpolitica subjecivaon vng se to the problem of he stes and formsof these processes or n metapoca fashion as the very name for thepower hat invgorates the whoe whereupon here is a price to pay fordentfyng it wih some unconscous wl of Being hat wils nothnge concept of the muttudes does not escape the alteaves hat everytheory of polia subjecivty necessaly confronts

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CHAPTER SIXBiopoitics or Poiics?1

M yor ook Msentente, yo hallenge traonal poliialprolema y expoing he fae oppoion on whih hey are aen Atote Po: he alim of voie (phn a expreon of theefl an peeh (logos, a expreon of the j a nary aoringo whh anmality i ivie om the oe Beyon h oppoition,yo ientify the verable te of he poitial a what yo al pute

ge, or wrong Wrong here onit preiey in he a of mingthe maoy of peang eing no the voal noe tha i ut he expreon of pleaure an uffering

we have oght you in orer to think how he ategory of opolitismay be pt to e i beae he gere yo aomplih eem ou to ontte a inglar atemp o re pol o the life of bjean to ake it onept o thi evel of raality Even o, t i a thigere i traghaway he in he: everyhing happen a hogh

poli ake pae in s enrety n the gap hat open up eween woform of ife an in the ipte proe by h ame gap So plaingoneelf n yor perpeive ol it not e a hat opol ontineo be he ontve 'nhough of poli itelf? An to wha exentan h 'nhoght e implemente a h?

: I no 'reu pol o he lfe of be in he ene hat I amto have hown i rootene n a power of life For me polt not he

ereion of an originary lvng jevy hat an n oppoon oanoher orignary moe of bjeivity nor o any kn of erive, orhiake moe, a in the heore of alienaion retung to the

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Astotelian deniion of e poliical anima, my objecve was toqueson he anthropooca foundaion of poliics: that i, to questonhe attempt to found poltcs on he essence of a mode of life, on the

idea of a bio poli an attempt that has recenly aken off agan vamore mode references (essentay Leo Sauss and Hannah Arendt). Iwanted to show that hs foundaton contaned a vcous crcle the 'testof humanty, or he power of communty of bengs endowe with helogo, far from foundng poltcty, is n fact the permanent stake of thedispute separaing poliics om the police. However, hs dispute itsefdoes not involve an opposion between two modes of life. Polis andpolce do not refer to such, but instead to two dsbuons of he sens

ble, to two ways of aming a sensory space, of seeing or not seeng common ojecs n t, of heang or not hearng in t subjecs that esatethem or reason in ther relaton

The polce s that dstrbuon of he sensble in which the effecuaonof the common of he communty s denied wh the effecuaon ofhe properies - resembances and dierences hat characteze odes

and their modes o aggregaton. It sructures perceptual space n terms

of places, funcons, aptitudes, etc, to the exuson of any suppement

far as poliics is conceed, it conssts and consiss alone - n he setof acts that eectuate a suppementary 'propery, a propery that is

biologicaly and anhropoocaly unlocaabe, he equality of speakngbeings. Ths property exsts n addton to every bio There are twoconrasng structuratons of he common word one that knows only ofbio (from trasmisson through bloodnes to he reguaton of popuaton ows); and one that empowers ati of equalty, that is, formsenacted by polica subjecs whih regure the common of a 'ven

word Such subjecs do not afrm another type of lfe but congure adfferent wordincommon

any event, he idea of he polii subject, or of polii as a mode oflife in which a singuar vng spees unfolds s characerstcally naturadisposion, cannot be assimilated to what Foucault examnes hat is,bodies and populaons as objects of power. The Aristotean policalanimal s an anma endowed wih poliity, one apable of acng as asubjec who parakes n poltcal acon, or, n Arstotelian terms, a bengthat parakes in he power of he akh as both subjec and objec. Foucaults 'bopolics, he body in queston i he body as objecof power and, therefore, it s ocazed in the police distributon of

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BIOPOLITI OR POLITI? 

bodes ad ther aggregatos Fouault presets bopolis as a spei

dieree praies of power ad heir ees, tha s, to say as ameas by whh power produes ees hrough he dividualzao of

odes ad the soazaio of populatos. Now ths queso s ot thesame as ha of poliis The queso of os bes whe he statusof he subjet ale ad ready to oe iself wth he ommuitybeomes a ssue

Fouault, i seems o me, was ever teresed i ths quesio, ot ata theoretal eve ay ase He was oeed wth power. I Laolont e saoi he oep of 'biopower s irodued as a way of oepualizg power ad is hod over lfe pays o rell that he preses

he oext of a tque of the hemats of sexua repressio adlberao Fouaus am was o outer a FreudoMarxst type ofdisourse, o show how a era dea of 'the pols of ife ress omisreoizg he way whih power is exersed over life ad is'lberaio s a paradoxial thig o wa o ver Fouauls poemialositif order o asser he vtalst rooedess of pols Furthermorewhile the oept of biopower seems soud, ha of bopols is o

fused Ideed Fouault uses the erm bopol to desigate higs hat

are suated i the spae tha I al the pole I does o hep to say thahe used the terms biopoliis ad biopower terhageaby, the po i

ha his oeio of oiis is osrued aroud he queso opower, that he was ever draw heorealy o he questio of poltalsujeivato

Today, he detato of these wo erms proeeds i two oppostedreios Boh hese direos I eleve, are foreig to Fouaults wayof hikg, ad are ay ase foreig o me. O he oe had, here

s a ye of thkg hat sges out biopower as a mode of he exeriseof soveregy, yg he queso of pols to tha of power y dragggbiopower oo a ooheoloopolia erra: ths happes the

work of Agambe, for example, whe he expais o us hat he exermato of Europes Jews was a osequee of he reaio to lifempl i he oept of sovereigy The ee s o ake Fouau oserto a Hedeggera posiio via a medaig mage of he sared adsoveregty a Batale That Fouaul had a tase for suh oos isovious, bu he ever direly ideied he oep of soveregty whtha of the power over lfe, or did he oeive of mode rasm erms of he relaio bewee soveregy ad bare lfe, but isead

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n terms of power th ppies sef o enhnn life Ambensheoztion s undenned by n Arendin or in he s nstnceedeen problemc of modes of livn which seems o me o be

very derent to FouculsOn the other there is wy of thinkn h endevours to endow the

notion of biopoics wh posve conent A rs evel the wil hsrsen o dene the modes of cre nd he subecive retion o he bodyheh nd sckness n opposition o the ste mnement of he bodynd heh; his nobly cn be seen n the strules over questions ofdrus nd S At second eve there is the temp to round n deof bopoics n n ontooy of fe sef dened wth certin dcl

ity of self-frmion his rdclity of sefrmtion sems from herdon of nhropoocl Msm th ben wih the Gnse,before ben suced up poiticly n operism nd hen reuvened heorecy in Deleun vsm my vew t mouns o n temp todenti the question of pocl subecvon with ht of he forms ofperson nd coecive indvdution For my pr I do not beieve htn onooy of indviduon s of ny use for he heorizon of poiticsubecs

M L Msennte, you present your denition of he poice s disncfrom poics v reference o he eneoy of he poce oulined byFoucut n Omnes et Singlatim, where s dened s ht which ppesto tht conces mn nd his hppness Bu wh do you mke of hefc tht, n Foucuts eyes he police consues ony sinle spec ofthe form of power ht s exercised over the fe of poputions ndndvduls

: here seems o hve been n mbuy in my reference o Foucultn La Msennte, in which I dene he police s form of he dstbutionof the sensble chrcterzed by the iminry deqution of pcesfuncons nd wys of bein by the bsence of void nd of suppementThs denon of he poce elbored in the contex of poemic overthe queson of identy n he 1 980s is enrely ndependent ofFouculs eboron of he question of bopocs presenn I took cre o dstinuish i both om he usu ssocitions of the policewih repressive pprtus nd from the Foucudn problemtic ofhe dsciplinrzon of bodes o surveilnce socety ths prese

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BIOPOTIC OR POC? 

contex, I though it useful o recal tha, n Foucault's work, too, hequeson of he pole is actualy far broader han hat mpied by notionsof the repressve apparatus or the dsciplnarization of bodies.

s same word polce leary refers to wo very dierent theorecaledices In Omnes et Singlam Fouaut onceves of the pole as annstitutiona apparatus hat parcpaes n powers onrol over fe andbodes; whe, for me the polce designaes not an nstiuon of powerbut a dsruon of the sensible whn whh it becomes possible odene strateges and techniques of power

M In Foucauls renderng of iopolcs n he La olon de savoir as a

transformaon of sover�i power as he ransition from a power overlife and death to a power as the adminsraon of ife, te emergenceof he socal as he new space of he polcal plays a major role TheFoucauldan ntereaons of the welfare stae, more receny named(by Eenne Balbar and by Rober Caste) the national-socal stae, havehoned in on exactly this pon For you, oo, the socal s the undamena heme o a ransformation Wha you refer to as polce nooraons precsely the eectuaon of he polcal subject as a soal body Is i

possibe, acordng o you to shortcrui hat ncooraon by restorng another viewpoin on the soal? Is it possle o bring a polticavepont to bear on the soca ha escapes tis kind of reducton?And abe at the pce of nvering ts Foucauldian usage s he nameiopoliis a suable one for designatng tha intenon?

: In Foucaut's work, the soal i the object of a conce (so) ofpower Foucault ransformed he casscal form of ths conce (fear ofthe working/dangerous masses) nto anoher: he positive nvesmen bypower n the admnstraon of le and the producton of opma ormsof ndividuaon Ths preocupaon an no dout be nsced n atheoaon of he soca State Bu he sate does no onsue heobject of my sudy For me, the socal i no a cone of power or aproduion of power I s the stake of a division beween polics andpolice s thereby not a univocal object a eld of relaons of producon or of power ha could be crcumscbed The wod soca canmean at leas hree hngs Frst, it can mean sociey that s, the set ofoups, places and functions tha he polie ogc identies wth hewhoe of he ommunity Insofar as they are mplaed n he noon of

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bopower, he preoccupans of he admnisation of lfe, of popaonsand of prodctons of forms of ndvdation are nsered in precsely hsframework There is aso a noon of he socal as poemica oitif

of sbjectvaon, constructed y sbjects who rise up o contest thenaralness o hese paces and functions by havng coned wha I calthe par of those wiho par Lasly, here is he soal qa invenon ofmode metapocs: hat s, the socal as he more or ess hdden truth of poltcs, whether this ruh s conceved n the manner of Marxor of Emile Drkhem, of de Tocqevile or of Pierre Bourdieu

What nerests me is the opposon and nerwinng of these hreegures This nertwinng, seems o me, s no obliged to pass va a

heory of life and the queson of s modes of regaion To say iagan, I do not eleve hat s it possible to exract from the notion ofbopower a erm tha desaes a form of preoccupation and mode ofexercse of power a noon of biopolitics as a specc mode of polticasbjectivation

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CHAPTER SEVENSeptember 11 and Afterwards A Rupture in the

Symboic Order?1

Does Sepemer 1 1 mrk symolc rupure i our hstory? he swerto ths quesio clerly epeds o wo por iercoeced quesiosFrst wht re we to udersd y 'symbolc rupture? d secod y

h essel feture re we o rceze he eves of Septemer 1 1 ?he rst queso c be formulted om two dfferet vepoisAccordig to he rst we mgh cl 'symolc evet th wh efls symol he quesio of he symbolic the s rsed om he vewpoi

of idel specor of hum ffrs d c sted s folows whtwere owers such s hese symos of? Ad wh lesso does the collpseof ths symbolc ojec ffor us? kig thigs from ths gle does oget us fr ht fourhudredmerehgh owers sporig he me ofthe words c cetre were symbo of hum huris i geerld of oe os desre for world omto i priculr d thther destruco py legozes he vity of h gree d theglty of h hegemoy ths is ery o mjor dscovery

So he queso of e symolc evet mus e pproed om oerge Accordgy symolc evet he me for y evet ht skes blow to he esg reme of relos eee he solc d therel s eve th the exisg modes of symozo re cpbleof ppreheig which herefore reves ssure he reo ofthe rel o e symbolc s my e the eve of usbolzble relor coversey h of he reu of he foreose symbolc From hsgle 'Septemer 1 1 is more h esigo for he success of errorst ct the colpse of the owers e decsve pot for deifyig

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he occurrence of a rupture becomes one of the even's reception, hat is,he ablity of hose it aeced and of those charged wh utering itssiicance (the American govement and media congomeraes) to

ensure s symbolc capure. A symbolc rupture can hus be sad o haveaken place on he day in queson f this capacity for symbolzaton wasdecien

I coud no see tha anyting of the sort ook pace on Sepember 1 1 The atack dd, o be sure, nvolve a combination of facors tha hadnever been seen previousy including: ts gh-leve of vsbiiy; spower of materal destrucon and he exempay of its arge But foral ha the cllapse of the towers and the gruesome deahs of housands

of nnocens does not ndiae the eacon of a nonsymbolizabe rea anyting was hrown no queson by he success of he errorsatas was perhaps he capablies of he American see servcesand, somewhat more profoundy he clear-sghedness of ongsanngreais' policies that fush Isamst movemens in the Midde East wthsuppor and weapons But wha was by no means thrown into questonwas the abily o rester the even hrough a ceran symbolization ofAmercan togeheess an of he sate of he world On the contrary,

everyhing ranspired as f he power of vvaciy conaned in hs symbolic reacon to the even was nversey proporonal to the capacity oforesee and preven s realzation On he mong of Sepember 1 itsef hs inconceivabe spectre had in fac aready been exorcized Waybefore was even possibe o coun the numbers of dead and survivorsone thing was known for sure and repeated praccally everywhere erross had ried to undermine Americas foundations bu heir atemptwas doomed to alure because the towers were the mere guraton of

ha Uned We Sand atitude that haracerzes he American peope Unon Square, a drawing on he ground was made to represen herue and indesrucbe towers, consstng of hundreds of Amercanbodies standing on op of one another o repace the gass and steeltowers and hose who peshed n hem, seen as mmediaey dentcal toexulations of colecive beingtogether On he evening of the same day,he president aready had he words on hand o capure wha hadhappened forces of evl had atacked he forces of good

So, by no sretch di any grain of the rea nd he symbolic deentBu neither did the symbolc reu in he rea hat i ake its revengeon Weste realism as some had aimed Fancying ha he West was

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beig pushed o egecg the exigecies o the symbolic ode ome

agued hat the ymbolic had etued i the eal. Alegedy he West

had bee caught out o havig eteaed he azy idea tha me

could alte the oudatioal eaoshps o huma existece as heypleased: amely he symbolic ode o bth ad deah he dieece

etwee the sexes khip ad alliace ad he elatioship o ma

to ome oudaoal alteity. Repeeave om he othe wodthat o symboic adio pad us a visit as it wee to ecal he cost

o that oly.

This agumet howeve colapes disc leves. The taget o theSeptembe 1 1 atacks wa ot he West but Ameica powe. Ad he

attaes wee hadly he voice o a epessed ucoou ey weeexecutos wokig o paamlitay etwok iked to U.S.aied aos

hat had ted agast he ao whch had bee busy sumetaizig them oly shoy beoe. What wa oud wag o eptembe 1 1was ot the Weste (di)ode o kihp ad aace. was the

symboic ode costuve o humaty geea hat deig he

eigtogethe o a aoal commuty. was the abity o his

commuity to ulize adoa symboica pots o eeece to

itegate he evet wthi the amewok i whch it epesets tselatio to ite to ohes ad to he Ohe. O ths po o ptue

occued thee was o eveao o a gap etwee he ea o Ameca

ie ad he symbolic o the Ameica people uch a gap ets oy othose who peted hat he Uted tates i o moe tha th couty o

matealisc obecvity o ast ood ad the dolla. But what this i actogets is hat eve the smalest subdiviso o the dola beas a dole

isipo: oe wite i L aout he cosituo o the mulple ad

aohe i Eglih about divie eecio. o symolc uptue occuedo the cotay what evealed itel i age lettes wee the pevalg

ad tedecialy hegemoic modes o symbolizatio o the togetheeso ou commues ad the colcs ag hem.

Fom he begig the Ameica govemet accepted posig as

its ow axiom the vey piciple o is atackes. It accepted to chaace

ize the colc eigious ad ethic tems as a combat bewee good

ad evl ad heeoe as oe that s as eveasg as he oppoo

betwee them Euopes geat mids might ascie this chaacezao

o evets to he iepessbe avety o he Ameica people. Howeve

he suppoed avety o ocia Ameica discouse coveys the peet

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sae of polics perfecy, or raher o wha has come o repace i At theleve of symboing our poitical being-ogeher, polics roper has beenrepaced by consensus C0nsensus is not simpy an agreemen beween

pares in the name of he national interes mpies positing an immediae dentity between he poitical consiuon of he commuy andthe physcal and moral consiution of a popuaon Consensus descrbeshe community as an eny ha s naturaly unied by ethca vauesEthos we know, means dweing and way of beng before it refers to adoman of mora vaues This agreement between a way of beng, a system of shared values and a polica cobeonging is a common neretaon albe no an exusive one of the ecan consution e

show of suport for George Bushs polies by 60 Amecan universiyprofessors made his abundantly ear: more han a judico-politicalcommunty the Unied States is an ehical communy united by common relious and moral vaues The Good founding his communyresdes precisely in he agreement beween is moral pncipe and itsconee mode of estence ofcia dscourse was precisey thsagreemen ha was dened as the targe of the terrorists' ata heyhate us, it s camed, for the same reasons hat eads hem o prohibit

eedom of though ve women and ove deah They hae freedom sohey hae us, that i hey hae us because freedom is our ver way of ife,the livng breah of our community

Ye, for the dearaton hey hate us because we have the eedom ofopion hat we so please o have any plausibiity, at east some members of Congress would have had, on Sepember 21 o reain from rising up and applaudng in unison Freedom s a poiical virtue so ong asit s somehng other han a way of living, so long as i is a polemica

stake s ony a virue when a communiy is animated by the very con over what means, and when severa eedoms cash n heiratemp to embody t, for insance when freedom of hough and of assoaon cash wth entrepreneua eedom The question of he symbolics played ou entirely in hat very aar There are two major ways ofsymboing he community: one represents as he sum of s ars, heoher denes it as he dvson of its whoe One conceves t as theaccomplishment of a common way of beng the other as a poemic overthe common I cal the rs poice, the second polcs Consensus is theform by whch polics is ransformed no the poice ths formhe commuty can be symbozed exusively as he comosion of the

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EEMBER AND AERWARD

interess of he groups and indivduals hat make t up. Su s the

mnima mode of symboizaion - at the imit of desymoizaon - thattends to prevai weste Europe Is advocates wilingy poke fun at

Amern 'naivety, whch somehow fances that God and te Goodare involved n the affar, and that dentes s ow acons wh their

mysterous workngs But ths 'navety s more advanced han hesceptcsm that mos t Because what sands in opposion to ecommunty of poltcal division s not, of course, he sole community ofinterests stead, it i te latter idenied with he communty of a

shared etho, he denty eween he parcularty of a mode of bengand the universaity of the Good, between the prciple of security and

that of nnite jusicehs symbolizaton of the commuitys moe of togeeess is simul

taneously a symoizaon of ts relaon to that whch attacks t: GeorgeBush dened ths reaion precisely as 'nnite jusce s deonwas not the unfortunate and forunatey correcte expression of a

president sll neeenced he ar of nuance. Nor did his same presdent proam Bin Laden 'wanted ead or aive because he had watchedtoo many westes In acu fac, what ofen occurs in weste is that

the sheff puts hs body on he ine to wrench he assassin om theyching mob and delver hm to he justce system By contrast to he

moraity f westes, hwever, innite jusice mpies a type of juscewthout lmis, one hat disregards l he categoes whch tradionaydene its exercse egal punishment as opposed to indiviual vengeance;the judca and he poica by contrast to he ethical and the relgous;crmnal proceedgs, whch are poice forms, as dstnc from miaryforms of conlic between armes The expungng of the forms of nter

nationa aw and he idenicaion of war psoners as memers of acrimnal asscaton have today trow al these disincons into quesion. The princple of terrorist acon is early contained n he very acof eunging sef, nsofar as poics and aw hereby become indistnguishable 'Inite jusce, however, s not merey a response to aterrorist adversary, one necessiated by he nature of tat adversar.Instead, it bespeaks the srange satus at todays expungng o hepoltical confers on the laws of naons an hat between hem

ere s ndeed a snguar paradox here. Bot he colpse of the Sovetempire and the weakening of movements n major Weste uneswere broadly seen and appauded as a lquidaon of the utopias of rea

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demoacy in favou of the ues of the State of Right Ths smpephilosophy of hisoy was mmedatey beed by obeaks of ethnicconict and egous fundamenalsm Futhe in the domesc situa

tions of este powes and thei modes of foeig inevenon, theelationshp between aw and fact have evoved n line wih a endencyin whch the boundaes of aw ae nceangy expunged Fanceself, specc phenomena have become neasingly pomnen on theone hand, an intepetaon of ghts as hat whch one has by vitue ofbelongng o a specc goup on he othe, egslave pactices hat amat matchng he ete of the aw wh each of he new modes of life wth he new foms of wok, echnooes, the famly and soca eaion

shps As a esul, the space of poltics which is constitued in theabsact leainess of the aw and hough poemics ove s intepetations has shnken accodingy So, he aw hat ineangy came obe celebated ted o o be about egisteng a paticula communitysway of lving A polcal symbolizaon of the law powe, imis andambvalences was eplaced with a symboizaon n em of ethics: aelaonship of consensual expession between the factal stas ofsocey and the nom of he aw

This opeaon obvousy poduces a emande he est of the wodo he mtiude of ndivduas and peopes hat fall oside of this happyce of fact and law The blung of he bondaes beween fact andlaw hee aso akes on anothe gue, compementay and nvese othat of consensual hamony he ge of the humanitaan and ofhumantaan intefeence The ght of hmaniaan nefeencemay have enabed he potection of some popuations of exYugoslaviafom an udetakg of ethic lqudation But the cost of hs act was asmulaneous buing of symbolc boundaes and hose beween states did no meely enshine the colapse of a stctung pncple of ntenatona law hat of nonnefeence, a pincpe of undeniaby equvocal vaues above al usheed in a pincpe of mlessness thadesoys he vey dea of law

A he time of he Vetnam wa thee exste an opposition moe oess explc o laent beween he ofty pncples pomulgaed byese powes and the pactices by whch they sbodnated them othe on val nteess Thoghot he 1960s ad 70s, animpeastfoces mobzed to denounce he dscepancy between fondingpnpes and actual pactce But oday he polemc beang on the

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contrdcon between prinpes nd c prcce seems to hvevnshed The princpe of ths vnishing s he representon of hebsote vcm he vicim of nte ev whch obges innte retri

on Forged n he setting of hmnirn' wr he noon of thebsote' ght of he vicim ws hen seconded by the brod inteectmovement which hs commted isef over the st qrter of centryto heorizng the notion of nte me

We eed to exme more horoghy he specicty of wht cod eced he second denncition of Sovet mes nd he Nz genocideThe rst denntion med to esbish the fcs nd strengthen heresove of Weste demoes in their srgge ginst s rmy

entrenched nd hetening totrinsm The second denncionforged he 1970s s bce sheet of commsm nd in the 1980sthrogh re-trcing ohe processes nvoved in the extermintio ofthe Jews took on toty dierent meng These mes were noonger viewed merey s the monstros effecs of regimes to comt bts forms mnifesing n nhinkby nd rredeemby nnte crimes he work of power of Ev exceeding jridic nd poic mesre Ethcs ecme wy to conceve he nthnkby nd rredeemby

nnite evi tht cts history rremedby nto twoThe pshot hs been the constittion of n sote extrjridc

rght for the victm of innte Evi Whoever nherts he vcimsbsote right thereby ecomes the defender of tht sote rightThe nmted ntre of the wrong sffered by victm jses themitedness of the right of ts defender Ths process ws broght tocompeton by the Amercn retriton for the sote crme committed gist Amercn ves The oigtion of provdg ssstnceto the vcims of sote Ev herey cme to be ideted whthe depoymet of nbonded miitry power fnctiong s poce force whose mission is to estbsh order wherever Evi mghtseek sheter

Innte right we know s identic wth nonright Vicms nd cpts ke f withn he cre of inite jsce' expressed tody by thetot jridc indetermintion impcing the sts of wr prisoners ndthe qicion of the fcts broght ginst them both he nondiscorse of consess nd the inteo dscorse of hmitrninterference sncfy he re of rght/w it s ony n order o shrodthe ter n prcce in the ndsncness of ethics whose mte mode

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of manifesaon, eraly speakng, s hat of nbounded mltaryspeower

September 1 1 did no mark any rpre in the symbolc order

broght to light the new dominant form of symbolng he Same andhe Oher hat has been mposed under the condons of he new worddis)order e most dstinctive feare ofhat symbolaon s the ecpseof poics t is the epse of an deny tha s inusve of atery anideny constited throgh polemicng over he common While reos and ethnic powers subject hs deny to a radcal negation, consensual staes holow it o om the nsde Ths symbolation alsoentas a growing indetermnaon of he jrdica, whereby facs are

idened either va the drect roe of consensus or va the indrect oneof humaniaan consenss and the war agains terrorsm A jrdicopolca symbolaon s slowy being repaced by an ehco-police symboation of he fe of socaled demoatic communties and hereaons with a separae word identied as he excusive rei of ethnicand fndamenalis powers On he one hand, he word of Good tha ohe consensus that emnaes polcal dspute by he happy harmoningof righ and fact, of ways of being and vales On he other, he word of

v n which, by contrast, wrong is inned and can ony be enactedthrough a war o he death If a symboc rpre occrred, had alreadybeen accomplshed To wan o date i on Sepember 1 s timaely away of emnang al pocal reecon on the pracces of Wesestates and of renforcng the scenario of cvaon's innte war againsterrosm, of Good against v

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CHAPTER EIGHTOf War as the Supeme Fom of Advanced

Putocratc Consensus

There is general agreement tha the Anglo-Amercan war eses to a

novey in the goveent of our advanced soeies. more difcu,however, o denfy hs novely, he reason for whch is smple.

Our dea of he new, forged by te progressst concepon of hstorical

movemen, asser not ony tha the new s new bu that al novelies

walk hand-in-and wih one another. Te clam thus mae tha moremode forms of the exercse of power are emergng in lne with echno

local advancements and the global rea of Capital: hese forms are

more are ineasngly dued and mperceptble; are mobe and nvsble

like he lows of communcaion are brokered ike commodes and

exerse heir paness eecs va a moe of fe to wich here is generalconsent. People, dependng on ther ben, cal ths he invsible global

goveent of captal, riumphan mass demoac or sof oaitaranism.

l these names puort o poin o a form of goveen that farremoved om mitary campas for rght and cvion, hymns to

God and he ag or the ies of sae propaganda. How, hen, are we oconceive of tis novelty, wh so strangely resembles he old? How are

we o conceive of ths gap between weaponry of grea technolocal

sophisicaton and coarse forms of opnon manpulaon? 

Let's begn wth the most blaant fac the enormiy of he les

concocted o fabrcate he image of an Iaq endowed wih weapons of

mass desrucion able to ske Weste naions wthin an hour. The lewas no smply enormous. To anyone with he slighes sense, was

simply inedulous. So, n order o enforce t, recourse was had to an old

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DSEN

priciple of propaganda. To enforce he reaity of the ie, it had to bepushed beyond all probabiiy: 'the bigger t is, the more itl be believed.his is perfectly suied to a reme undeinned by belef. The very hig

tha was aimed to be the dening feaure of totaiara remes todayappears perfecy wel sued o he govemen of a demoacy inspred

by the Chsan reion. e qeso remains as o why his govemen had need of it as o why was necessary o impose he improbablerealiy of this lie. he reason was apparenly to creae consent in order o

wage war. But why start a war the danger was own not o be real?O of ancipaon? De o possbly exaggerated feelings of insecy? seems necessary o invert he erms of the probem. Imagined feelings of

insecurty dd not necessitate he war; instead the war was necessary toimpose feeings of insecrity. he management of insecuy s he mos

appropriae mode of funconing of our consensual saes/sociees.Despite pronocements by hinker of he end of hsory hose of sof

toaitariansm, y theorecians of generaized smuacra and hose of

the rresstible overowing of the multudes, the 'arac is lodgedrmly in the hear of or extreme modety. Automac consensus,which is o say he harmoning of the daily negotiation of peasres

wih he colecve rokerage of power and s re-dsbtions s no henorm of the advanced capiais stae. This stae does not indicae a

greater eveheadedness in maters of conc, nor a divesent ofvalues. does not self-desruc ino the lmiess eedom of informational communon or the 'polymerzao of forms of ndividualtyha corrode he socia bond. those paces where commodiies reignnrammelled, namey posReagan America and posatcheriteEngand, he optima form of cosensus is one cemened through he

fear of a sociey grouped around he waror state.e Uned Sates conlc wih 'od Erope, hen, perhaps a conic

between two saes of consensual govemen. he places where he

systems of social sodarity and proection are not compeey eroded,and where govemens sl tervene i he naona redsrbuon of

wealth conensus geared o its raditional funcons of arbiraon. designaes a mode for represenig an overal soliday between conlicing interess. is solidariy s said to operate agains he baond of the

supposedy ironad aw of economic necessity, comelling us o abandon

he archaisms of he soal, progressivey and concertedly. he paceswhere hs sep has been aken where he 'modest stae has rd tsef of

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WAR A PREME FORM OF PLCRATIC CONEN

its funcons of socia ntevenon and ves ee eign to e sole aw ofcapital, consensus assumes ts bald face n ts nal fom, e consensualsate s not a sate of management, but a state educed to te puty of ts

essence e poice sate e community of feeing tat undeins tisstate, and wc e late uses to good eect, s te community of fea some geat tinkes ave made fea nto te foundation of soveety,is s because it s e feeing tat mamizes not ony te dencaonbetween individual and colecve inteests but wic also accompisesan dencaon between nteests and values Tis denicaonbetween e noon of te community weded togee by eas to itssecuity and tat of te community united by te fundamental vaues

petanng to a uman gaeng blessed by dvnity was, as we ow,pused to extemes on te occason n queson Te United Stateseatened by aqi weaons at inedibe fedeation of wite, baand ndan populaos wo some centuies ago, got togete anddeded to buld a geat community founded on te mutua especbetween aces, elgons and asses

So, ee ae two types of consensual state and t may wel be at,contay to notions popagated by igttinkng pogessivsm, te most

advanced sate s not tat of te sate abaing to eate a baancebeween socia inteests, but tat of te state manang nsecutyBesides, e game tat ou goveents pay w te teme of insecuityand te paes at ey exploit, sould be enoug of a wang to usTe new foce of exteme igt-wng paies in Euope cannot be foeveascbed to e dsessed eacion of casses in constant slow down anddsempoweed ndividuals e twists and tus of te 2002 Fencpesidental eection at least asssted us in dsceing te cental ole

payed by e teme of nsecuty, as wel as te aegedly magnapaes tat eot it, in te oveal ogc of consensus 1 On e one and,tese pates foment feeings of nsecuty, wic e sate ten tus toits own advantage On te oe, e consensual state paints esemanal paes temselves as an additional fo of insecuty Consequenty, ese mana paes end up woking against emseveseping to pomote todays saced democac unions of consensualgoveent, wo ae us anded te means to pus toug epoies of socia consensus tat s, of te sof iquidation of e omsof potection and socia soidaity wic tomoow wil and tem temeans to manage e consensus of fea

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DIEN

People say: surey ths fear is no a smpe queston of fanasy, he

in Towers realy were brought smashing down. And he forms ofviolence, he exorton rackes and he oher thngs tha foment our

feeings of nsecurty realy do exis. Be hat as i may he Amercanexample was superlative n showing hat he prevenon of real dangersand vioence and he prevenon of magnary nsecuriy are two ver

dfferen hings. Moreover it shows hat the advanced state is innteymore adjusted to acking he ater han the former. Once agan i s

beter o dscard he noton hat the retu of archaisms observed inadvanced natons and soceies n recent tmes are defensve reaconsdue o he dangers hat they face in the form of he reacive attudes of

he more or ess dis-empowered populatons of the pane. Not evenby exponenialy neasing he number of socioogists and poiica

sciensts hat use t to ea her us can te heme of the desperatonof the backward and humiaed ef behnd by modey forever beused to mask the realty. First there s nohing to ndicate hat he boudless globa deveopmen of putocraic goveen reduce he gapbeween he rch and he poor he very hng said o pose a permanen

hreat to advanced countries. Second he preparatons for September 1 1show that ineatonal capial and mode ecnoogy can ie nperfecy wel with reigous 'archasm and desrucve fanacsm. hrd

the everyday media managemen of knds of dangers rsks andcatasophes om Islamism to heat waves no to menton the inelecual tsunam of dscourses about catastrophe and the ethics of theesser evi sufce to show tha he opic of insecury has unlmtedresources. Insecurty s not a se of facs. s a mode of management ofcoecve lfe; and one that is likely to persst even if our poiies adnsiutons end up agreeng on an accepable mode of life-n-common.Were Iran o be invaded after Iraq here would s be someng ke 60'rogue sates left to threaen he securiy of putoac naons. Furthe

more weapons as we know, are not he ony hings ha threaten oursecuy. is no farfeched to mane polcemliar operaonsstrenuousy supported by enighened opnion being launched to opple

any heedless goveent deemed to be at rsk of seng off a macecolocal or heah catasrophe. There s ever chance tha the famousgap between the advanced and the baward used to jusify the

inervenons of he secury poce aganst al the rsks facng i be indentely re-opened by hs same poice.

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WAR UPREME FORM OF PLUCRAC CONENU

woud no doubt be hazardous to prognose the poenial future

frms of managng insecurty. Our tme is he mere dawn of performances of this new utopia ha s of planetary goveance by means of

sef-regulating ptal This s obviously oly a manner of speakingIndeed, no hstocal necessiy oblges us to usher i s aoheoss. It sherefore the more urgent for us to eave behd the fase facs of he

progressis concepon of history and o recognize he lnk between he'archaic element of secuy and he advances of lutocrac govement s also uca to idenfy the sngular feaures of ths mode ofgoveance. A few ndicaors can be found in he abovementoned

episode of sate les whch some caim were exempary of 'toaltaran

princpes of propaganda Others wi cntnue o excaim hat nothngwhasoever n common exsts beween he Unied Saes of GeorgeBush and the Germay of Goebbels: oponents of the war freeyexpressed heir opinions and openy voced their demonsraons n

ubic which is perfecty correc. Bu such indicates precsely the singuarity of the suaon n quesion wih respec o he received oppos

ons beween oaltaansm and democracy. In acual fat the suatn

ha cononted us was comleely new; i was one wh the forms of

ee expresson of mode constuiona states were juxtaposed whforms of propaganda assocaed with supposedy oaliaan staes Over

he course f many monhs the domnant teevison staions n heUned States pounded away day and night reerating he verities oofcal discourse elng us tha the American naton was argeed by a

horrble hrea n he form of Iraqs weapons of mass desruction eypounded away reiteratng this hrough he mouh of he presiden andhis secretaries of sate, hrough hose of the majory representatves

and the 'opposon and hose of joualists and experts n al things.They pounded away and hey did 'freely, snce as we know, hese

teevison staions are dependen of govemen, bu auay asoheavy dependent on he same nancal mieus to whch he govement is ndentured. became abundantly ear ha for a televisonbroadcaster o subm to he servce of propagatng saes need no be

sae-owned.

As never before i became cear hat the conic beween the parestha gove the management of nsecuy and stae les s merey

apparent and has an underying subsanta realty heir soldary (he

solary and imid criques drected by the Democras at he Republcan

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DIENU

adminsraion oneed he ater a of maera provon for he

gh agans inseuy) Captal demonstrated ts perfe abity to be

able to assembe nformaon mahines geared to safeguardng he

propaganda of sae e This gave us a tae of he form of lbery hat sto be expeed from an nformaton ytem that is both proteed from

he onsrants of ering he pub and entrely homogeneou to

he onjunon of sate power and he power of wealth In its war onIraq the Unted Satess form of sae is miltary apparatus and iseonom and meda poer a ataned the high degree of iegraon

ha sgnas the puoat systems perfeionment Gvng dire powerto the owners of meda empres somehng beng experimented wh

n Ialy an be lassied as one of the pioneeng forms of his verysame ystem

The orgnalty of he presen siuaon oniss n he oexstene ofhs apia apparau of tate propaganda and a demoat pub

opinion Berluon Iay Aznar Span and Blars Engand ganima demonsraton eruped again he war Even n the Uned Satesdespte the presures of onsenus and he agnmen of he so-aled

bera pres, opponents to the war were abe to expres hemeves eey

in the stree Even the most enraged presenter of Fox N had oonede hat the r amendment of the Federa Constuion dbarredone om aking the profesor a Coomba Unvery guly of havngsaid ha a erious opponens to the war should hope for an Iraqi

vory Spiting n his fae would sufe he onluded The ofaysem of nformaon/opinion an toerae aongde it a realm of eeexpression regarded a ompeely onempibe Apparenty ths s so

even when at sake is not smpy the personal and debaable opnon ofan ndivdua but a mas movemen Aied European naion weretrenuousy hanked by Presdent Buh for no strayng om he straigh

and narrow n he fae of heir pubs expressions of oppostonBy onas no doub wor reeng a momen on the oestene

of hese ystems of opnion Some intere it pessmsay a as tha demorat opnion s worhess On the ontrary he oasionpresents isef as a hane to rea hat he duay by no mean of

goveena paries but of he syems of pub opinion is whatseparates demora pots om he norma forms of goveen by

weath e norma tendeny of hese ogarhi goveens, to wh

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WAR A UPREME FORM OF PLUTOCRAC CONENU

by way of a confson between the forms of sate and he form of

polics one ve the name emocraces is not he egaltarian regn ofcommncaon and mass consumption s he integraton of capials

stae mltary and meda powers. A eous democrac movemen mspace he progresis fath n he homogeneiy of its developmens ake

full coizance of wha separae s forms from the forms of stae and is

form of lbery om the freedom of commodes

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IIThe Poltics of Aesthetics

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CHAPTER NINEThe Aesthetic Revoution and Its Outcomes

At he end of the feent of s be ie stheche Eehng es MenschenSchier states a aradox nd makes a romse. He deares that 'Man ony cometey human when he ays and assures us that ths aradoxs caabe 'of bearing the whoe edce of the art of the beautfu and

of the sti more dfcult art of vng. We coud reformuate this thoughtas foows there exsts a secc sensory exeence that hods the

romse of both a new world of and a new ife for indvduasand the community namey the aesthec here are dfferent ways of comng to terms wih ths statement and ths romise. mght be sad that

they vrtuay dene 'aesthec usion as a devce serving merey to maskthe reaty that aesthetic judgement is strucured by ass domnation.s is not the most roducve aroach, n my vew. Conversey it mightbe said that the statement and the romise were oy too true that we

have exerenced the reaity of tat 'art of vng and of that 'ay as

mu n toaitaran attemts at makng the community into a work of aras n the everyday aesteczed fe of a bera socety and ts commercaenteranment. Caricatura as t may aear I beieve ths attude the

more ernent. Nether the statement nor the romse were neecua.We are deaing not with the 'nuence of a thinker, but wth the efcacy

of a ot, one that reframes the divison of the forms of our exerence

EMPLOMENS OF AUONOMY A RONOMY

ot has taken sae n heoretca discourses and n rac atudes

n modes of ndvidua erceon and n soca nstuons museums

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DSENU

ibraries educatonal programmes and n commercial inventons as we.My aim is to ry o undersand he principe of ts efcacy and of tsvarious and anheica mutaions. How can the noton of 'aestheics as

a specc expeence ead at once o the idea of a pure world of ar andof he sef-suppression of art in fe, to the radton of avangarderadcalism and to the aestheizaion of common exstence? a sensethe whoe probem ies in a very sma proposiion Siler says thaaesthetc eeence wll ear the edce of he ar of the beautiful an ofthe ar of livng e enire quesion of the 'poitcs of aesheti in oherwords of he aesthetic regime of art tus on hs shor conuncon eaesheic experience is eeve inasmuch as s the eerence of hat

an. grounds he auonomy of art to he exten hat i connes i othe hope of 'changng ife. Mates woud e easy f we could merelysay navely hat the beautes of mus e suaed from any poization, or knowingy that the aleged auonomy of art dsguses isdependence upon dominaon Unfortunatey his no the case: Schilersays that the play drve Spieleb wil reconstruct oh he edce ofart and he edice of life.

Mtan workers of he 1840s roke out of he cire of domination y

readng and wing no popular and mlitant but 'high ieratureThe ourgeois ritis of he 1860s denounced Fauerts posture of arfor arts sake as he emodmen of democracy. Malarm wanted toseparate the 'essental anguage of poery from common spee yeamed that poetry ves he communty he 'seal i as. Rodchekotook photographs of Soviet workers and gymnasts from an overheadangle, squashing her bodes and movemens in order o consrct thesurface of an egaitarian equvalence of ar and fe Adoo said ha artmus e enirey self-contaned he etter to make the stan of theuconscious appear and denounce the ie of autonomized ar. Lyoardcontended tha he avan-gardes task was to solate art from uuraldemand so that it can testfy al the more starkly o the heeronomy ofhough. The ist can be extended a innim. Al of hese postonsrevea the same asic empomen of an an the same kno bndingogeher autonomy and heteronomy

To undersand he 'potcs proper o the aeshec regme of ar s ograsp the way hat auonomy and heteronomy are ornay inked nSilers formula. This may be summed up n hree poins Fst heautonomy staged y the aesheic reme of art s not that of the work of

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AEC RVOLUON AND I OUTCOME

t but of mode of expeence Second, e 'esetc expeence s one

of eeogenety, sc t, fo e subjec of tt expeience, t soe dsmiss of cen utonomy Tid, e obje of t eeence

is 'eseic, nsof s s not, o les no ony, t Sc is teeefod eton ht Sclle ses up in wt cn be cled te 'onlscene of estetcs.

SENSORIUM OF T GODDESS

A te end of e fteent ete, e pces imself nd s edes inont of spemen of 'fee ppence, Geek stue known s teJno Loi Te sttue s 'sef-conned, nd 'dwels in tsef, s beste is of e divinty: e 'idleness, e dstnce fom ny ce o duy,

fom ny pupose o voon e goddess su becuse se wes noce of wil o m. Obvosy, he qules of te goddess e those of

e ste s wel Te stue s comes pdoxcly o gue w

s no been mde, w ws neve n objec of wil In ote wods:

embodies te qliies of wt s no wok of t (We sold note inpssng t foms of te type 'ts s o 's is not wok of t, 's

is o 's is not pipe, ve to ced bck o tis ogny scene, we wn o mke of tem moe n ckneyed jokes)

Coespondingy, te speco wo expeences e ee py of teestec in fon of te 'fee ppence enjoys n utonomy of veyspe knd. is not te tonomy of fee Reson, subdung te ncyof senson. e suspenson of t knd of uonomy I s n

uonomy stcly eted to witdw of powe. Te 'fee ppence stnds in font of s, unppocbe, nvlbe to ou knowedge, o ims nd deses. Te subjec is pomised te possession of

new wold by tis ge t e cnno possess in ny wy. e goddessnd e speco, e ee ply nd te fee ppence, e cg

p ogete n spec sensoum, cncelng e opposions of civiy n pssiviy, wil nd essnce. e 'utonomy of t nd e

'pomise of poit e no counteposed e uonomy is e utonomy of the expeence, not of te wok of In ote wods, te

wok pticpes n te sensoim of tonomy nsmc s it sno wok of t.

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DSENU

Now, this 'not beng a work of art immedatel akes on a new

meanng he free appearance of the staue s he appearance of whathas no been amed a as ar his means tha it is the appearance of a

form of lfe in which ar is no ar he 'self-conanment of the Greeksaue us out to be he 'self-sufcienc of a collecie lfe tha doesno rend self ino separae spheres of actiies, of a communit whereart and ife, ar and polics lfe and politics are no seered one from

another he Greek peope are supposed o hae lied such a fe, theauonom of whch s expressed n he selfconanment of the stauee accurac or otherse of tha ison of ancient Greece s no at issuehere A sake is he shift n he dea of auonom nsofar as s inked

to that of heteronom. At rs auonom was ed to the 'unaaialiof the objec of aesthec experience. hen it ued out to be he

auonom of a lfe in which art has no separae esence in whchits producons are in fac sef-eressions of ife. 'Free appearance as

he encouner of a heerogene, s no more. ceases to be a suspensonof he opposons of form and matter, of ac and pass, andbecomes he produc of a human mind which seeks o ransform hesurce of sensor appearances no a new sensoum hat s he mirrr

of its own acii. his s he plot tha unfods in Schilers as eters,where prme man gradual eas to cast an aesthec gaze on hs

arms, oos and/or bod, o separae the pleasure of appearance omthe funconai of objecs. Aesthetic pa thus ecomes a work ofaesthezation. he plot of a 'free pla, suspendng the oer of ace

form oer passe mater and promising a sll unheard-of state ofequal, becomes anoher plot in whch form subjugates mater, andhe selfeducation of manknd is its emancipation from materal, as it

transforms he word ino its own sensoriumSo the orinal scene of aeshetics reeals a conradiction ha s not the

opposition of ersus poics, high ar ersus popular cuure or ar

ersus the aestheticizaon of lfe lhese opposons are parcular feaures and interpretations of a more basic conradcon he aestheticregime of art art s ar o he exen ha it is somethng ese han art s

awas 'aesheczed, meanng ha i is awas posed as a 'form of lfehe ke formula of he aesthec reme of art s that art is an auonomous

form of lfe hs formula, howeer, can be read in wo dfferen was:

autonom can alorized oer ife, or fe oer auonom and these lnesof interpretation can be opposed, or the can intersec.

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E AEEC REVOLON AND I OCOME

Such oppoiion nd nterecon cn be rced o the intely

beween three mjor cenrio. cn ecome fe. Lfe cn ecome rt.And rt nd life cn exchnge their propere. ee hree ceno

yeld hree conguron of he ehec, empoted in three veron ofemporty. Accordng to the ogc of the an ech i o vn of the

polic of etheic or wht we houd rther cl it mepotc

h it wy of producng i own poic propong to polic

rerrngemen of i pce, reconguring r poli iue or

erting ef re poc.

CONSG T NEW COLLECE WO

The rt ceno h of rt ecoming lfe. hi em r i keno e not ony n expreon of life bu form of i efeducion. Wh

thi men i ht, beyond i detrcon of the repreenton regme

he ethec reme of rt come o erm wth he ehcl regme of

imge n wopronged reonhip. reject i prtoning of tme

nd pce ie nd funcon. Bu t rte t bic princple: mterof r re mter of eduction. A elfeducon rt i the foon of

new enorum one which ignie, n culiy, new eho. Tken

to n extreme, hi men ht he etheic ef-educon of humny

will me new colecive eho. e polc of ethec prove o ethe gh wy o chieve wht w purued in vn by he etheic of

polc, wth it poemc conguron of the common world. Aehec

prome non-polemcl conenul frmng of he common word.

Umtely the lteve to poitc tu ou to be eheczon,

vewed the conuon of new colecve eho. Th cenro w

rt e ou n the litle drf octed wih Hege, Hden nd Sellg,known D ltete Sytemprogramm de echen Ieasm. he ce

nro mke polc vnih n the heer oppoon eween the ded

menim of the Ste nd he lving power of he communty medy he power of lving though. Poey vocon he tk of eheic

educon to render ide percepbe by ung hem nto living

imge creing n equvlent of ncen mythology, he fbrc of

common experence hred by he elie nd by he common peope.

her word: mythoogy mu become philoophy to mke common

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DSENU

people reasonable and phiosophy mut become mythoogy o make

phosophers sensibe'.is draf woud be more than jus a forgoten dream of the 1 790s

came to lay he bais for a new idea of revoluton Even though Marxnever read the draft, we can disce he same po in hi ext of he1840s e cmng Revoluon be a once he conummaon and

abolition of philosophy; no onger merely forma' and poitca', it be a human' revoluion. The human revouon i an opring of he

aesheic paradgm This is the reason that the Mat vanguard andhe arstc avan-garde converged in he 1 920s since each side wasatached to he same programme: the construcon of new forms of life

in which the sefsuppresion of potcs matched the sef-suppression ofart Puhed o ths exreme he orginary ogic of the aestheic stae reversed Free appearance was an appearance hat dd no refer to anytruth' ying behnd o beneah i But when t becomes the expression of

a certain life i refers again o a ruth o wh t bears wtness the

nex tep ths embodied truh i oppoed o he ie of appearances. When

he aethec revouon aumes the shape of a huma' revouioncanceing the foal' one he orignary ogic ha been overtued The

auonomy of the idle divnity is unavailabiliy had once promsed anew age of equality Now the fument of that promise is idented wth

the act of a subect who doe away with a such appearances, whchwee ony he dream of somethng he must now posess as realiy.

But we should no for ha simply equae he scenao of beminglife wih he disaes of the aeshetc absoue' emboded in the toaiaan gure of the colevty a work of ar The same cenario can beraced in more ober atempts to make ar he fom of life We may think,

for inance of the way the heory and practce of the Ars and Craftsmovemen ted a ense of etea beauy, and a medi�val dream of

handiaf and arsan guilds, o conce wih he expoiaon of heworking class and the tenor of everyday lfe, and to ues of functionaiy

Wliam Morrs was among he rs to claim tha an armchair s beautfu

if provdes a resfu sea, rather than saisfyng the pictora fanasie ofts owner Or let us ake Maarm, a poe often vewed as he incaa

ton of arsic purim Those who erish his phase hs mad geture of

writing' as a formula for he inranstvty' of the tex ofen forget the

end of his sentence which assgn the poet he task of reeaing every

hing, out of reminicences o show hat we actualy are at he pace we

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THE AETHETIC REVOLUTION AND IT OUTCOME

have to be The alegedly pure pracce of wrng is nked to te need

to eate forms that parpate n a general re-framing of he human

abode so that he producions of he poet are n the same breah com

pared both to ceremones of collecive lfe like he reworks of BasilleDay and to prvate oaments of the househod.

is no concdence that n Kants Ktk er Urtekra sgnicant

examples of aestec apprehenson were taken om panted dcors hat

were free beauty nsofar as they represented no subjec but simplycontributed to the enoyment of a pace of soablty. We know how far

he transformatons of art and is vsbty were inked to conroversies

over he oament. Polema programmes to reduce al oamenaon

to funon in he style of Adolf Loos or to exto ts autonomous siifying power in he maer of Alos Reg or Wilhelm Worringer appealedto he same basic prinpe that rst and foremost ar is a matter of

dwelng n a common word at s why he same dsussions about heoament coud support deas boh of abstrac panig and of industra

design. The noon of ar becomng fe does not smply foster demiur

projecs of a new lfe. also weaves a common temporalty of art

whi an be enapsulated in a smple formua: a new lfe needs a new

ar. Pure ar and committed ar ne ar and appled ar all equalyparake of ths temporaty. Of course hey undersand and ful t in

very dierent ways 1897, when Mallarm wrote his Un coup e ,he wanted he arrangement of nes and size of characers on the page to

match the form of hs idea the fall of the dice Some years later eter

Behrens desed the lamps and ketes catalogues and rademark of the

Gean General Elecrity Company What do they have n conmon? 

The answer I beleve is a cerai concepion of desgn. The poe wants

to replace he represenatona subjecmatter of poery with he designof a genera form to make the poem ke a choreography or the unfod

ng of a fan He cals hese genera forms types The enneerdesigner

wants to eate objects whose fo ts ther use and adversements

wich provide exac informaion about hem free of commeral embel

shment hese forms he aso als types The poet hnks of hmself as

an arst nasmuch as he atempts to create a ulture of everyday ife that

s n keepig wth the progress o industral producion and arsc desgn

raher than wih he rounes of commerce and pettybourgeos con

sumpion Hs types are symbos of common ife But so are Malarms

They are par of he projec of building above he evel of the moneary

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DIENU

economy a ymbolic economy hat would disay a colectve uce o

maicence a ceebaton of the human abode eacing the foloceemonies of hone and eigion As fa emoved fom each ohe as

the symbois oe and the functonais engnee may seem they bothshae he idea ha foms of at shoud be mode of colective educatonBoth ndusal oduction and asic ceaion ae commtted o dong

somehing on to of what hey do o eatng no ony obects but asensoum a new aton of the ecetbe

FRAMG HE LE OF AR

Such is the st scenaio he second s the schema of life becomng a

o he ife of a' his cenaio may be given he ie of a book by theFench a histoian Elie Fae LEt e Foe the fe of a as he

develoment of a ee of foms n whi ife becomes at his i in factthe o of the mseum conceved not as a bilding and an insition

bu as a mode of endeing vibe and inelibe he life of at' We

know ha when such museums wee bo aound 1 800, t uneahedbte sue hei oonen agued hat the awoks shold not beto fom thei eng he hyil and a o on whch heywee bo Evey now and hen his oemc s esed oday and themuseum s denounced as a masoeum dedicated o he contemaionof dea con eaated om the life of a Ohes hod that, on thecontay, mueum have o be bank suface so hat sectaos can beconfoned wh he atwok tef undtacted by the ongoing clal

izaton and hocizaton of at my view boh oiion ae misguided he s no ooston

between life and masoeum blank suface and hstoicized atefactFom he beginnng the cenaio of the at museum ha been hat of an

aeheic condon in which the Juno Ludovisi is not so much he wok

of a mase sculto as a livng fom exesive boh of the indeendence of fee aeaance' and of he vital sit of a communiy Ou

ne as mseums exhbi not ue semens of ne a but hstoicizeda woks by Fa Angeico beween Gioto and Masaccio tha fame an

dea of Foentne ncey sendo and elios fevo ohes byRembandt between H and Vemee hat feaue Dtch domestc and

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THE AETHETIC REVOLUTION AND I OUTCOME

cvic e the e o the ourgeoisie and o on Our mueum exhibt amespace o art as so many moment o the incaaton o thought.

To ame this pot was the rst tas o the dicoure named aethetcs

and we now how Hege ater Scheing competed it. e prncpe ohe amng s ear the properies o the aesthec experence are transered to the wor o art itse canceng their projeon into a new ead invadatng the aethetc revouon e 'prt o orm ecomesthe nverted mage o the aesthetic revoution. This reworing invovestwo man move First the equivaence o acivity and pasivty orm

and matter that araceed the aesthec eeence tus out to bethe tatus o the artwor tsel now poted a an denty o conciousnes

and unconcoune wi and unwl Second this denty o contrarieby the ame toen ends wors o ar thei hstorcty. The 'politca characer o aethec experece as t were reversed and encapsuated nhe itoricty o the statue. The statue s a vng o But the meaningo te in etween ar and ie ha hted The statue in Heges vew sar not o much ecause t i the ereion o a coecive reedom utintead because it gure the distance etween that coecve ie and theway t can express tse The ree tatue accordng to the wor

o an arst eresng an idea o wh he s aware and unaware at theame me He want to embody the idea o divnity n a gure o stone. But

what he ere is ony e idea o the dvinty that he can ee and thathe stone n eres. e autonomous orm o the tatue emodes dvnty a the rees coud at et conceive o it - that is deprived o nteorty matters tle whether or not we sue to tis judgement. Whatmatter s that in this cenario the mit o the ar o   idea and o peope s ao te nditon or the success o the wor o art. ves

o ong a it exprees a hought unear to itel n a mater that resist it ve namu as t s omething ee than ar namey a ee and a wayo lie

hs pot o the pit o orms reuts n an amgous hitoricty o artOn the one and it ceate an autonomous e o art as an eresion ohistory open to new nd o deveopment When Kandinsy ams or anew astract expression an inner necessity wi revves the impulse and

orms o pmitve art he hod at to the pit o o and oppose itegay to academsm On the other hand te pot o te e o ar entais

a verdc o death The tatue autonomous noar a the w hat

produce t s heteronomous When ar i no more than ar t vanhes

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n connt of tougt s transparn to sH and wn no mattrrssts it s succss mans nd of art n artist dos wa wans g stas mry rvrts to axing a tradmark to papr or

a canvasT plo of t nd of art s no simpy gs own idosynatic

tozaon ngs to pot of t lif of ar as spr of formsTat spit s trognos snsi idntity of art and non-artAccording o ts plo wn art cass to nonart it is no ongr artr otry is pory says gl so ong as pros s confsd witpory n pros is only pros tr no mor rognoussns T stamnts and fsings of colctiv lif ar only t

samnts and fusings of colctiv f So t forma of artcoming lif s nvalidatd a nw f dos no nd a nw art On conrary t nw lif s spcc n tat dos no nd art T wolsory of ar forms and of poltics of astcs n t astic rgimof ar cold stagd as as of s two formu a nw if ndsa nw ar; t nw lf dos not nd art

MTAMORPOSS O CUOS SOP

at prspctiv t ky prolm coms ow to rassss t trognous snsi Tis conc not only arsts t vry ida of anw f T wo affar of ftisism of commody mst Itnk r-considrd from is pon of viw Marx nds o prov att commody as a scrt ta t cprs a point of rognity in tcommrc of vryday f Rvoluon s possil cas t commoity lik Juno Ludovsi as a dol natur

a work of tascaps wn w try to sz od of T rason is a t plo of nd of art drmns a conguration of modty as a nw partitionof prcpl wit no pon of rogny ts partion raonalizaon of t diffrn sprs of actvy coms a rspons oto od irarccal ordrs and to t asc rvouton' T womoto of t polcs of t asc rm tn can spl ot asfolows t s sav rognous sns

Tr ar wo ways of savng a invoving a spc potcs w isown link twn atonomy and tronomy T rs is scnao of

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THE AETHETIC REVOLUTION AND I OUTCOME

'art and ife exanng their properes roper to what can be caled n

a broad sense Romanc poetcs s ofen hoght ha Romanc poecsnvoved a saalizaon of ar and of he arst bt ths s a one-sded

vew The prncle of 'Romantcsm s raher to be found n a multpcaon of the emporaes of art hat renders s bondares permeable

Muipyng s nes of emporaty means complcang and matelydsmssng he sraghtforward scenaros of art becomng lfe or febecomng ar of he 'end of ar and repacng hem wih scenaros of

laency and reactazaon Ths s he brden of Schegels dea of'progressve universa poetry does no mean any straghorward

march of progress On the contrary 'romanczng the works of the past

means tkng them as meamorphic eements, seepng and awakenngsuscepbe to different reacazaions according to new lnes of temporaly e works of the pas can be consdered as forms for new contens

or raw mateals for new formaions ey can be revewed reamedre-read remade ths way musems exorczed he rd plo of the

'srt of forms leading o the 'end of arts and heled to frame newvsblies of art which led to new practces Arstc rpres bemepossble too becase he msem oered a mlpcaion of he temo

ralies of art alowng, for nsance Mane to become a paner omode fe by re-pantng Vesqez and .

Now ths mlt-emporaly aso means a permeabity of he bondares of art Being a mater of ar ts ou o be a knd of metamohcsats. The works of he past may fal asleep and cease o be artworkshey may be awakened and ake on a new ife n varios ways Theymake hereby for a connm of meamohc forms Accordng o thesame oc common objects may cross the border and enter he realm of

artsc combinaon They can do so al he more easily n ha the ariscand the hsorc are now nked ogeher such tha each objec can bewthdrawn from ts condon of common se and viewed as a poecbody wearng he traces of ts hsory hs way he 'end of art argu

men can be overed the year of Heges death Balzac pubshedLa Pea de chagn A he beginning of the nove the hero Raphae

eners the showrooms of a arge costy shop where od staes and

painings mngle wih old-fashoned fre gadgets and householdgoods 'Ths ocean of fushngs, inventons works of ar and recs

Balzac wres, made for hm an edess poem The parapheaa o hesho s aso a medley of objecs and ages of artworks and accessories

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DIENU

Each of hese obects is ke a fossi wearing on is body the history of an

era or a civiizaton A litle furher on, Balzac remarks tha the great poetof he new age s no a poet as we undertan he erm t s no Byron

bu Cuver the naturas who coud reconsiute forests ou of periedtraces and races of gants ou of scatered bones

the showrooms of Romanicism the power of the Juno Ludovsi is

transferred o any arcle of ordnary fe which can become a poeicobect a fabric of herogyphs ciphering a hsory The od curiosty

shop makes he museum of ne ars an the ethnographic museumequvaent dsmisses the argument of prosac use or commodicaon

he end of ar s to become a commodiy, the end of a commodiy s

o become ar By becoming obsolee, unavalable for everyday consumpton any commodty or famiiar arcle becomes avaable for art, asa body cipheng a hsory an an obect of disineresed pleasure It isreaeshetcized in a new way The heterogeneous sensbe s everywhere The prose of everyday life becomes a huge fanasic poem Any

obect can ss the border and re-opuae the realm of aeshetc

eeence

We know what came out of his shop Fory years aer, the power of

the Juno Ludovs would be ransferred to he vegetables the sausagesand the merchans of Les Haes by Zola and Claude Lanter, the Impres

sions paner he invents n Le Vene de Pas8 Then there wil be, among

many ohers the coages of Dada or Surreasm op and currenexhbons o recye commodies or vdeo ps The most oustandngmetamohoss of Bazacs reposory s of coure, the wndow of theoldfashoned umbrea-shop in the assage de I'Opra, in which Aragon

recognizes a dream of German mermads The mermaid of Paysan dePas is he Juno Ludovisi as wel, he unavailabe godess promsing,hrough her unavaabty a new sensory world enamin wll recog

nize her in his own way he arcade of outdae commodies hods thepromse of he fuure He wl only ad ha for he promse to be kept

the arcade must be osed down, made unavaiableThere s thus a daectc wihn Romanc poeics of he permeabiiy of

ar and ife This poetcs makes everything availabe to play he par ofhe heerogeneous unavalabe sensbe By making wha is ordnaryextraordinary i makes wha s exraordnary ordinary oo From thsconradction, i makes a kin of poiics or meapoiic of is own

That metapoitcs is a hermeneuic of sgns rosac' obects become sgns

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THE AETHETIC REVOLUTION AND I OUTCOME

of histo whch hv to b dphd. So th pot bcoms not onl

ntuist o n choogst xcvtng th fossls nd unpckng thpotc potnl h so bcoms knd of smptomtoogst dving

into th dk unds o th unconscous of sot to dph thmssgs ngvd in th v sh of odn thngs. Th nw pocsms nw hmnucs tkng upon its th sk of mking sotconscous of ts own sts b ving h ois stg of polticl cms

nd doctins d dlvg to th dpths of th socl to disclos thnigms nd fntsis hddn n th tmt ls of vd if

s in th wk of such potcs tht th commodit coud b ftuds phnsmgo thng tht looks tv t st sight but on

clos ook is vd s ssu of hoglphs nd pzz ful ofthooc quibbs.

DUCAON?

Mxs nsis of th commodt pt of th Romntc plot whch

dns th nd of t s h homognzon of th snsibl wold. Wcold s tht th Mn commodit stps out of th Bzc shop.

Tht s how commodit fshsm lowd Bnjmn to ccoun fo th

stuctu of Budis img b th topogph of th Psincds nd th gu of th ne Fo Bud lotd not so mu

n th cds hmslvs s in th plot of th shop s nw snsoium s plc of xchng btwn v d if nd h m of t. Th

ecan nd th nm pt of th sm potcl pot whch is

wh th t so wl mb vn too wl. Such mo wid th csfo th discous of Kltrkk in its vous gus dscous which

pupots to spk th uth bout t bout th iusons of shcs

nd th sol ndpinnings bout th dpndnc of t upon common cutu nd commodicon. ut th v pocus houghwhch it ts to disclos wht t n sthcs tul w st

md on th sthtic stg Th gus of th sm pom. Th

ctiqu of cutu cn b sn s th pistmoogcl fc of Romncpotcs th tonlztion of its w of xchnng th signs of t nd

th ss of lf. Kltrkk wnts to cst on th poducions of Romncpotcs th gz of dsnchnt son. But tht disnchntmnt its

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DSENU

is par of e Romanic reencantment tat as wdened ad innitum e

sensorium of ar as te eld of dsused objects enpting a cuture,

extending to innt too, e realm of fantases to be deciered and

formatng e procedures of tat decrptionSo Romanc poetics resists te enrop of te end of ar and its

de-aeseticizaon ut its own procedures of reaesteizaon are

treatened b anoer kind of entrop. e are jeoparded b erown success e danger in tis case s not tat everting becomes

prosac is tat everng becomes arsc at te process ofexcange, of ossng e border reaces a point were te border

becomes competel blurred, were noting, owever prosac, escapes

e domain of ar s is wat appens wen ar exbiions present uswt mere re-duplcations of objecs of consumpon and commercialvideos abeling tem as suc, on e assumption tat tese artefacsoer a radical crque of commodcaon b e ver fac at e are

te exact re-dupicaon of commodities. is indscebt tusout to be e indsceiblt of e crical dscourse, doomed eer to

partpate in e labelng or to denounce t ad innitum asserting tate sensorium of art and te sensorium of everda lfe are nong more

an e eteal reproducon of e 'specae in wic dominaion isbo mrrored and dened s denunciation n tu soon becomes part

of te game. interesng case of s double discourse could be seen n

an exibon, rst presented in te United States as t's Enttain, ten

in France as Audel du 10 e Parisian exibiton laed on treelevels: rst, e op angcuture rovocation; second, Gu ebordscrque of enteranment as specace, meanng te triump of alienatedlife; rd e denicaion of 'enteent wt te ebordian concept

of pa as te andote to 'appearance. e encounter beween freepla and free appearance was reduced to a confronation between abilard abe, a barfootball abe and a merrgoround, and e neoassical busts of Jeff Koons and is wife

ENOPS OF HE AVAGARE

Suc outcomes prompt te second response to e dlemma of ede-aeseiciation of ar te alteave wa of reassering e power

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E AEETIC REVOLUTION AND I OCOME

of the 'heterogeneous senible s he exact opposte of he rst. mainains tha the dead-end of ar lies in he romanic lurng f ts

orders. argues the need for a separaton of ar from he forms of

aestheiciion of common life. The am may be made purey for artown sake, but t may ao be made for the ake of art emanpaorypower. both case, the baic caim i the same: the enoa are o be

saraed. e rst manfes again ktsch, far pror o he exisene ofthe word, can e foud i Flauberts Madame Bova The enre plo of

the nove i, n fact, one of dfferenaon beween he artst and hischaracter, whoe chief me s to wsh to ng art nto her lfe. She whowants o aeshetze her ife, who makes art a mater of life, deserve

deah lierarly peaking. e uely of the novelt become hegour of the phoopher when Adoo lays the same charge agan theequivalen of Madame !ovary Stravsky, the musian who hinkha any kind of harmony or dsharmony is avaale and mixes casicaords and mode dsonances, jazz and primiive rhythms, for heexctement of hs bourgeos audience. There is an extraordnar pahos

n he one of the passage n the Philosophie der neuen Musik where

Adoo ates hat some hords of nineteenh-entury saon muc are

no longer audbe, unless, he adds, everthing be trickery If thoeord are sill avaiable, can sll be heard, he pocal promse of

he aeshet scene is proved a lie and he path t emanpaon is lot.

Wether he quest s for art alone or for emanpaon through art, thesage s the same. On his stage, art mut ear iself away from the erriory of aeshecized lfe and draw a new borderline, whch canno be

coed. Ths is a poiion hat we canno impy ascrie to the avangarde inssence on arts autonomy For, n fact, thi autonomy proves to

be a doue heteronomy. Madame Bovary ha to die, Faubert ha odiappear. Fr, he has o make he sensorium of iteraure akn to hesensoum of thoe thngs hat do not feel: pebbles, shells or grans of

dus. To do this, he has to make  prose idsnguhae om that of his

aracter, the prose of everday life. the same way the aunomy ofSnbergs music, as conceptuaized by Adoo, s a doube heteronomy:

in order o denounce the ptast dvision of abour and the adoensof commdiaon, i has to take that division of abour ye furher, o estil more ecal, more nhuman than the products of capials masproducon. But th inhumani, n make the sain of what has been

repressed appear and dsrup he works perfect technica arrangement.

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DIENU

The autonomy of the avantgarde artwork ecomes the ension eweentwo heteronomes, etween he onds tha e Ulysses o hs mast andhe song of the sens against which he sops hs ears

We can aso ve to these two posiions the names of a par of Greekdvnes, Apolo and Donysus. er opposon is not simpy a cotructof the phiosophy of he young Nietzche t s he dialectic of the spritof forms n genera The aesthec dentication of conscousness andunconscousness, logos and patos, can e ntereed n two ways Etherhe sprt of forms is the logos tha weaves s way through s own opaciyand the resisance of the materias, n order to ecome he smie of thesaue or he gh of he canvas hs is he Apolonan plot. Or it iden

ed wth a patos that disrus he forms of do and makes ar thenscrption of a power that is chaos, radca alerty art nscres on thesurface of he work the immanence ofpatos n the logos of the unthnkale hought ths s the Donysian po Both are plots of heteronomy.Even the perfecion of the Greek satue in eges stek s he form ofan inadequacy The same holds al the more for Schnergs perfect constrcton. order hat avan-garde art stay aithful o the promse ofthe aesthec scene has to stress more and more the power of eer

onomy hat underpins s autonomy

DEFEAT OF T MAGNATON?

Ths iner necessiy eads to anoher knd of enropy, which makes heask of autonomous avangarde art akn to tha of gvng witness osheer heeronomy Ths entropy is perfecty exemped y Lyotardsaesheics of he suime At rst sight this s a radcalzation of hediaectc of avantgarde art tha twss into a reversa of ts ogc. Theavan-garde must draw the dividng-ine hat separaes art from commodity cuure idenitely, isie he lnk of ar to he heterogeneoussensle ntermnay. But must do so in order o invaidate indenelythe rery of the aesthetic promise itsef, o denounce oh the promisesof revoutionary avant-gardism and the entropy of commodity aestheczation. e avantgarde endowed wth the paradoca duy of eangwess to an mmemoral dependency of human hought that makesany promise of emancipaon a decepon.

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THE AETHEnC REVOLUTION AND I OUTCOME

Ths demonstration akes the shape of a radcal re-readng of Kan'sKk de Uteika of a re-raming of he aestheic sensorum, whichsands as an mplt refuaton of Schller's vson, a knd o counter

ognary scene The whole duy' of mode art s deduced by Lyotardfrom he Kanian analyss of the sublime as a radca experence ofdsagreemen, n which he synhetc power of magnaon s defeaey the experence of an innie, wh ses u a gap eween hesensle an the supersensibe. Lyoards analysis hs denes thespace of mode ar as he manifestaton of he unrepresentabe, ohe oss of a seady relaion etween he sensible and he nelgle'.Ths asseron paradol: rst, because the sublime n Kant's account

does not ene the sace of ar, bu marks he transton from aestheco ethcal exerience; and second, because he expeence of disharmonybetween Reason and Im�naton tends towards he discovery of a hgherharmony the subjec's sef-percepton as beongng to he supersensibeword of Reason and Freedom

Lyoard wants o oppose the Kanian gap of the sume to Hegelianaestheizaion, but n so oing he has to orrow Hegel's concept of thesublime qua mossiiiy of any aequaton eween though and ts

sensie presentaton He has to borrow from the plot of he sprt offorms' he prncple of a counerconstrucon of the orignary scene oallow for a counterreading of he po of the life of forms' Of course,

his confusion is no a casual msreadng I s a way of bocking theorgnary pah om aesheics to politcs, of mposng at he same ossroad a one-way deour leading from aestheics to ethcs his fashionhe oposiion of he aeshec reme of ar to he represenatonaregme can be asibed o he sheer opposton of the ar of he unrepresenable to he ar of represenaton. Mode' arworks then have obecome ethical wnesses to the unrepresenabe Scy speakng,however, it n the representatonal regime tha you can nd unrepresentable subjec maers, meaning those for which form and matternnot be ted together n any way e loss of a steady relaon'beween the sensibe and he ntellgble not the oss of the power ofrelang, ut the mulplcaion of is forms There s nothng hat sunrepresentable n the aeshec regme of ar.

Much has been writen o the effec that the Holocaus unrepresentabe, tha i permis of wtnessing u no of ar e cam, however, srefuted by he work of the wiesses. The paratacc wrtng of Primo

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evi or Rober Anteme for exampe, has been aken as the sheer modeof testmony bettng he experence of Nazi de-humanizaton Bu hsparaacc sye, made of a concatenaon of te percepions and sensa

ons, was one of he major features of he lterary revolton of thenineteenth century he short noatons a the begnnng of Antelme'sbook L'sp human desibing he latnes and seting the scene ofthe camp a Buchenwald, follow he same pae as the descrion ofEmma Bovarys farmyard Smilary, Caude ananns m Shoah hasbeen seen as bearing wiess o the nreresentabe Bt wha anannconteoses to the represenationa plo of the US eevson seresTh Holot anoher cnemaograhc po the narrave of a resen

inqury re-construcing an eniatc or an erased pas, whi can betraced back o Orson Weles's Rosebud in Ctn an he nrepresetabe argment does not the experence of arstc pracce. Instead, tfuls a desire for there to be somehng nreresenabe or unavailabe,so tha he pracice of art can be enised n he necessy of the ehcadetor. e ethcs of the nrepresentable mght sil be an nverted formof the aeshetc promse.

My skech of hese enropc scenaos of he poliics of aeshetcs may

seem o be proposing a view of hings hat is qute essmsc. hat s noat my pose. A certan meanchoy abou arts desiny and tspoica comments s expressed n many ways oday, espealy n mycounry, France he a is hck wth earaions abot the end of art,he end of he image, the regn of commncaions and advertsements,the mpossibiliy of art afer Aschwiz, nostalga for he os paradse ofincaae resence idcmen of aeshetc opias for spawnng otaliaransm or commodicaton My puose s not o join ths mougchor On the contrary, I hink hat we can dsance orseves from hscurrent mood we nerstand ha he end of art is no modety'smschievous desiny but he reverse side of the life of ar o he extenha the aestheic formula ies art o non-art om the sart, it ses hat feup beween wo vanishng poins: art becoming mere life or art becomingmere art I said above tha pushed to he exreme each of hesescenarios entais is own enropy, ts own end of art But he fe of art nhe aestheic regime of art consss precsey of a shutling between thesescenaros, playing an aonomy against a heteronomy and a heteronomyagains an auonomy, laying one lnkage between art and non-artagans anoher such nkage.

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E AEEC REVOLUON AND I OUTCOME

Eah of these searos ivolves a erta metaol art reftig theherarha dvisios of the eretibe ad amig a ommo sesom or art reag ols as a ogratio of the sesble word; or

art beomg a kd of soal hermeet; or eve art beomig itsvery isolao the garda of the romise of emaatio Eah ofthese osos may be held ad has bee held is meas that there aerta dedabiity the olti of aesthes' ere s a metaolsof aesthecs wh ames the ossibies f art Aesthet art romisesa olial aomshmet that t aot satsfy ad thrves o thatambigty at s why those wh wat to soate it from os aresomewhat besde the ot. It is aso why those who wat t to fl its

oltal romse are odemed to a erta meahoy

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CHAPTER TENThe Paadoxes of Poltical At 

Since he tum of the century, there has been ineasngy equen talkof art's havig reued to poics'. Nuerous exhbions and conferences have been pu on hat re-assert arts capacity to resis fors of

econoic, poical and deologica donaton. A he sae e, isnew fah n he poical capaiy of art has aken on any fors, whchare very oen divergent, not conlcng. Soe artis ake bg staues

out of edia and adversng cons o ake us conscious of he powerthey have over our percepon Others silenty bury invsible onuents

dedicaed o last centurys cres. Sl others endeavour o sow us hebiases conaned in ainstrea represenaons of subale denes,or to sharpen our perception of iages using photographs aout characers whose identity s eeng and enigac. Soe arsts using false

denes, crash he eengs of big bosses and poiicians o ake heook fooish; oher desgn banners and asks for sree deonstraons

against the powers ha be Soe use the sace of e useu o deonstrae he funcioning of new ecological aines others lay ou sal

stones or erec signs in disepowered suburbs wh he ai of rereatinghe envronen and engenderng new soia relaons One aris pays

grant workers o dig eir own graves in order o point to the vioenceof exploation while anoher plays the roe of superarke assstan asa way of ending the soial bond.

Nowsandng their derences, hese srategies and races a pre

suppose a secic noon of art's ecay. s presued o be eecivepoically because dsplays the arks of donaon, or rodesainsrea cons, or even because t leaves he spaes reserved for it and

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THE PARADOXE OF POLCAL ART

ecomes a soal pracce Despe a cenury of que or so-called dreced at he mmec radton, appears to stl rmly entrenched,nudng n forms of supposed polcal and arsc suverson Uneryng

these forms s he assumpon ha ar compels us o revolt when t showsus revolng thngs, that moblzes when t tself s aken outsde of heworkshop or museum and tha nes us to opose he system ofdomnaon by enounng ts own parpaon n ha sysem sassumon mples a spec form of reaonshp etween cause andeec, ntenon and consequence

fac he pocs of ar suers om a srange schzophrena In hers place, arsts and tcs never tre of repeang ha ar pacces have

to e re-stuaed nermnably, placed n ever new contexs Adamantlyproclamng hat our context s one of late capasm, or economcglobalzaon or comptr communcaon and he dtal camera heysay we mus comleely re-hnk he poltcs of ar he second placehese same arss and crtcs are sll very atached o parads forundersandng he efcacy of ar ha were eunked at leas wocenures efore these echnolocal nventons apeared For hsreason, t ays o nver the usual perspectve and, akng a maxmum

of dstance from our resen dscuss he folowng quesons whchmodels of he ecacy of gove our saees, hoes and judgemensregardng the poltcal mor of arsc pracce? And to whch age dothese moels belong?

o do so, I shall ake a lea ack n tme to egheenh-century Europeand more presely o a tme when he hegemony of he mmecarad was hrown no queston om wo opposed angles he concepon of he efcacy of ar wthn hs paradgm s well lustrated y

the classcal theare asscal tmes was suposed hat the heate, orsage, funconed as a magnfyng glass, nvng specators to vew hebehavour, vrues and vces of ther fellow men and women n the formof a con I was consere, for example, hat Moleres Tae aughsecators to recognze hypoes, an Voltares Mahomet and Lessng'sNathan de Wese to struggle for tolerance aganst fanasm, and so onCurren ways of hnkng and feelng are appareny far removed omhs edfyng vson of ar's vocaon, and ye hey are sll thoroughlyound o he causal loc undennng t hs loc poss hat wha thevewer sees on a sage no less han n a phoographc exhbton or annstallaon s a se of sgns formed accordng o an arsts ntenon

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By recogning hese signs the specator is supposedly indced into aspecic reading of the world arond s, leadig, in m, to the feeing ofa certain proxiiy or distance, and uliately o the specator's iner

vening into he sitaion staged by he autor. We ay no longer believethat exibiing vires and vices on stage can iprove huan behaviour,but we contine to ac as if reprodcing a coercia ido in resin wilengender resisance agains he specae, and as if a series of phoographs abou he way coloizers represent the coonized wi work ounderine he falacies of ainsrea represenation of ideniies Les cal is the pedagogil ode of the efcacy of ar

The pertinence of tis ode was thrown into question as early as he

1760s. is Lette a M D'Alembe u le eaeI Rosseau argesagainst the presuption of a direc relation running o the perforance of bodies on stage to is effects on the inds of specaos and itsconseqences for heir behaviour otside the theare. Does MoliresMantope encorage s o value Aceses sincety above he hypocrisyof the socialites ha srround hi? Does it lead us to privilege heirsense of soa ife over his inolerance? The queson is ndecidabe.Moreover, how can the heatre itself expose hypocries, given tha its

very essence dened by wha hypoces do - naey, showing sis offeelings and thoghts on han bodies tha hey do not ave asposingthis scenao to a coneporary siaon, we ight ask he folowing:what should we ake of a phoographic exhibiion depicing vicis ofgenocide? Does it cont as a for of reeion against he peeraors?Does it aon to anyhing ore than an inconsequential sypahyoward he vicis? Ough it generate anger owards he phoographerwho u he vicis' pain ino an aesheic aer? Or else to indiaion agains hose who view he degradingy ony in heir identy asvicis? The list can be extended. The eleent that is lef over onceal these reacions are sbraced is the supposed beay' or power ofhe phoograph itself The ogic of iesis consiss in conferng on hearork he power of he eecs tha it is supposed o elici on thebehaviour of specaors

is not he vaue of he essage conveyed by he ietic dpoiifhat is at stake here, bt he dpoiif. The efcacy of ar resides noin he ode (or conerodel) of behavior tha i provides, but rstand foreos in partions of space and tie that i produces o deneways of being ogeher or separae, being in ont or in the idde of,

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E PARADOXE OF POuCAL A

beng inside or outsde, etc. eren lies the pont of Rousseaus polemice problem with repesenation, for him, s not that it is evi as such,but hat t enals a separaon between dong and seeng Rousseau

sought to contrast hs separaon with he colecive body of a city hatenacs is own uny rough hymns and dances, su as in the celebraon

of te Greek City Fesval Tis denes he second great paradi of theecacy of ar, wi contrass one dea of mmess with anoher, an eticsof represenaon and an arci-etica paradi. Ariehical, becausethe stake here s not to improve behaviour trough representaon, butto have living bodies directly embody the sense of the common

paradigm pons right to te core of the queson of poica efcy, but

t does so by jetsoning both ar and polics in the same sroke, fusingthem togeher by amng he community as artwork s a paradigmhat stretches at least asfar back as Plato, but that came to be espoused

in a mode guse as anrepresentaon, as art tued nto ts truth: heframing of he fabric of sensory common life a moe hat s still withus Although we no longer share eary tweneh-century dreams of

collecve rhyhmcs or of Futurist and Construcivst symphonies of he

new mechanical world, we coninue to beeve that ar has to eave the

ar word in order to be effecve n 'real life: we coninue to ry tooveru he logic of he heatre by makng the spectator acve, by tu

ing he art exhbion nto a pace of poiical acivsm or by sending

arsts into the sree of dereict suburbs to nvent new modes of socalrelaons hus appears that, om the outset, he dea of crcal aritsef is caught between two types of pedagogy: one hat could be called

eentatonal medaton and anoher that we might refer to as etlmmeda

Ehical mmediacy was not he only concept used to challenge representaonal medaon at he end of the eghteenth century So also was

s conrary, aetec dtan wich does not consst in he ecsac

contemplaon of he beauful and thereby work mschievously to concea he socia undeinnngs of ar and dispense with conete acon in

he 'outsde word Instead, t was rst used to refer to he suspenson ofa determinable relation between he arsts itenon, a performance in

some pace reserved for art, and he specators gaze and sate of hecommunty. This s, afer what 'crique means: aaon WhenRousseau wrote hs Lette u le eac, tis separaon was embema

zed by the apparently nnocuous despon of an ancent satue, hat

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by Johann oah nckelann of the Toro of the Bevedere. The

break nauurated by his descption lay in its account of he satue asdeprived of al ha which, n represenational loc, akes it possibe o

dene body expressions and ancpae the effets of ther vewn. Thesatue has no outh enablin it o deiver essaes, no face to expreeoions, no bs o ad or arry ou acon Even so, Weannconsidered to be a staue of Hercules no ess, the hero of he eveLabours Bu for hi is he staue of an dle Hercules, sittn aon he

Gods a he end of his abours A its core, what his descripton expressesi an ideny of opposte: in t acviy and passvity ere oether,forin an equivalence whose soe eression ies n the use of

the orso tha rppe wth the sae ndifference as ocean wave Thsutilated satue of a de hero, unabe to propose anyhn o iitae,was, accordn to neann, he epitoe of Greek beauty, ad soaso of Greek liberty s desption sus up thus he paradoxica

efcacy of ar No loner predicaed on the adon of a feaure oexpresion and oveent su as an enatic power of he iae

this efcacy s, on the conrary, based on an ndierence and radcalsubtracion or withdrawa Ths very ae paradox i conceptuazed

by Schiler in ters of aehetic ee play' and free appearance', phenoena tha he rearded as havin been epoized no n a headess

aue but n a orsoless head hat of the Juno Ludov. This head, he

thouht, s characezed by a radica ndierence, a radical absence ofcare, wil or dess.

hs paradox dene a conuraon tha I cal he aeshec reie ofart, which itself stands n contrast o boh he reie of represenaonaedation and ha of ehcal iediacy. Aesthec desiates he

suspension of every deerinae relaon correatin he producion ofart fors and a specic socia funcon e satue of whi Weannand Sler speak s no oner an eeen in a reiou or cvc ritua; no

oner does stand o depc belief, refer to a soca dstncion, ply

ora proveent, or the obilizaon of ndividua or colecvebodes No specic audience is addresed by it, instead he satue dwels

before anonyous and indeternae useu specators who ook at itas hey can a Forenne paintin of the Vrin Mary, a itle Spanishbear, a Dut peasant arrae or a French sl-life depctin sh or

fruit In he useu, whch s no erey a specic ype of budn, but

a for of frain of coon space and a ode of visbility, al hee

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E PARADOXE OF POCAL A

representaions are disconneced from a spec destinaion, are oered

to he same 'ndierent gaze. s s the reason hat he musem today

can accommodate not only all kinds of prosaic objecs, but also forms of

nformaon and debate on pblic sses hat challenge manstream formsof informaon and dscssion.

This means that he aesheic rupture arranges a paradoxcal form ofefcacy, one that relates to a dsconnecon between he prodconof arstic savoir-faie and social desinaion, between sensory forms, the

sgnicaons hat can be read on hem and ther possble effecs. Let scall t the efcacy of dissensus whch not a desiaon of conlic as

such, bt a specic type thereof, a conic beween sense and sense.

Dssensus s a conic between a sensor presentation and a way omaking sense of it, or between several sensory regimes and/or 'bodes.s is he way in wh dssensus n be sad to resde at the hear ofpolics, snce at botom he latter self consists n an acvity that redrawshe frame whin wh common objects are determined. Poliics breaks

wih he sensory self-edence of the 'natral order hat destines

spec individals and grops to occpy positons of rule or of beingruled, assgning them to prvate or publc lives, pnning hem down to

a ceran time and space, to specic 'bodes, that is to spec ways ofbeng, seeing and saying. This 'natural logic, a dstribon of he

nvisible and visble, of speech and noise, pins bodes to 'heir placesand allocates the private and he pblic to dstinc 'pars his s heorder of he police. Polics can herefore be dened by way of contrastas the acivity that breaks wh the order of the police by inventngnew sbjecs. Poliics invents new fos of collecve ennciaon; treframes the ven by inventing new ways of makng sense of the

sensible, new conguraions between he vsible and the nvsible, andbetween he audible and he naudble, new dstrbuions of space andtime n short, new bodly capacies. As lato tells us a conaio politcs begins when those who were destined to reman n the domescand invisble territor of work and reproducion, and prevented om

dong 'anyhing else, take he me that they 'have not n orderto afrm hat hey belong to a common world. begins when hey

make the nvisble visble, and make what was deemed o be the merenose of suffeng bodes heard as a dscourse conceng he 'commonof he communty. olcs eates a new form, as t were, of dissensual'commonsense.

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DIENU

here exst a connecton between art and poti, t shoud e casin erms of dsensus, he very keel of he aestheic regme: artworkcan produce eects of dssensus precisely ecause they neiher give

essons nor have any destnaton. The statue of Hercues may have beenmuated for entrey exraneous reasons. Yet, i came to emody herunaon of the former disrution of the sensibe, n which odes were

geared sensoriay and menaly to mach their functon and destnaton.h the marble of the mutlaed aue we thus shft to he reaty of adssoaton 'in the esh: on the one hand, the work carred ou yarms; on he oher the actvty of a gaze Writing for a revouonary

newspaper, a nineeenh-cenury oor ayer desced is hif in a

ciona diary of hs brother:

Believng hmsef at home, he oves to ponder the arrangement of aroom so long as he has no yet nished laying the oor he wdowopen ou ono a garden or command a view of a pcturesque horizon,

he top i arms and gides n imagnaton toward the spacious vewto enjoy it beter han he possesors of the neghouring residences

Ths passage shows ha he aestheic rupure works o qualify a odywhose dweing s geared neiher to s task nor o is determinaion

Divorcing he eeing gaze om he abourng arms introduces e body

of a worker ino a new conguraion of he sense, overug the'proper reaionhip eween wha a ody 'can do and wha i canno. s no coincidence that thi apparently a-poliica descpon waspublished in a workers newspaper dung the 14 French Revoluton:

the possbly of a 'worker vo emerged through the disquaication of

a certain realiy of the worker ody emerged hrough a redisiutionin the whoe et of reaionhips beween capaciies and ncapaciies,

deing the etho of a socia ody.

We are now in a position o address he paradox hat resdes a the

hear of the relationship beween ar and poics and poitics eachdene a form of dissensus, a dssensua re-conguraion of he commonexperience of he sensble there s su thng as an 'aesthetcs of

polics i ies in a reconguraion of he disrution of the common

hrough poitcal processes of subjectvaon Correspondingly, f here sa poit of aeshetc, it lie in he practice and mode of visily of that recongure he fabric of sensory experience. However, no direct

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E PARADOXE OF POLCAL A

cause-effec reaonship is determnable etween he intenon realizedin an ar performance and a capacity for polical sjecivation. Whatgoes by he name of he 'polics of art voves he interwning of

several o. the rst place, there exists a poiti of aeshecs hatpredates arsc ntentions and stratees: the theatre the msem andthe book are 'aeshetic reaes n and of themselves oher words,they are specic distribons of space and time of he visibe and theinvisbe that eate spec fos of 'commonsense regardless of hespecic message such-and-sch an arist intends to convey and or casehe or she wans to serve This is not a smpe matter of an 'instuonbt of the framework of dstribons of space and he weaving of fabri

of perception Wthin any ven amework, arsts are those whosesrategies aim to change he frames speeds and scales according to whiwe perceive the vsibe, d combine t wth a specic invsie eementand a spec meanig. Such srategies are intended to make theinvsbe visible or to queston he sefevdence of he visbe; to rupturegiven reaons between things and meanings and nversey to inventnovel reaonships etween thngs an meanings that were prevosynreated. Ths might be led the abor of ction which, n my vew

s a word that we need to re-conceive 'Fiction, as re-framed by theaeshetic regime of ar means far more than the costrucing of an

magnary wod, and even far more than its Arstotelian sense as'arrangement of actions is not a term tha designates the manaryas opposed to the rea; t involves he reframig of he 'rea, or theframing of a dissenss. Ficion a way of changing existing modes of

sensory presenaons and forms of ennciation; of varying frames scalesand rhyhms; and of bilding new reaonshps beween reaity and

appearance the indivdual and the colecveThs intertwnng frames a new farc of common expeence, a new

scenery of the vsie and a new dramaturgy of the intelgible createsnew modes of ndivdualty and new connecions between hose modes,new forms of percepon of the ven an new pos of temporaitySimlar to poica acon t effecates a change in the dstribuon ofthe senbe e derence mght sad to lie in the fac that here-conguraon of he sense cared out by poli is an eec of formsof sujectvation other words such re-congraons are broughtabot by colecves of eunciaon and demonsraon (mantaon) The'aeshecs of polcs consists aove all in the framng of a w a subjec

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DIENU

a colecive demosao whoe emergece i the elemet hat dirups

he dsributio of oa part a eemet ha I cal the art of hoewho have o part - o the wretched but he aoymou. The 'poic

of aethetic, a for it, frame ew form of idvduality ad ewhaeccees doe ot give a colecve voice to the aoymou. Iteadi reframes the world of commo expeece a the world of a haredimperoa experece. I h way aid o hep create the faric of acommo expeece whch ew mode of cotructig commoojec ad ew poibiiies of ubjecive euciatio may be deveopedtha are characertic of the 'aeshec of poic. i poi of

aesthec however operate uder he codos preibed y a orig

a dijuco. produce eecs ut t does o o he ais of aorigial effec tha implies he uspeso of ay direc causeeecreaoshp

hi eo wa log cocealed by e peudo elfevidece of theparadgm of 'ccal ar whch fac coae the loc of aetheceparao ad e pedagogica ogic of repreeatioa mediao adetica mmediacy Crcal ar i a ar hat aims to produce a ewpercepo of he world ad herefore to eate a commime to it

traformatio h chema very imple i appearace s acualy thecojuco of ree procee: r the producio of a seory form of'sagees; ecod he developme of a awarees of the reao forhat ragee ad hird a mobiizao of idividuals a a reul of thaawaree. Whe Brecht portray Nazi eader a caulilower eler adpreseed heir disuio aout the vegeable buie i asicavere the euig ah of heterogeeou uatio ad heerogeeouaguage i ieded o brg abou a awarees oh of the rade reaio hidde behd hym to he race ad e ao ad of the forms ofeomca ad poica domiao hat are idde behid the diy ofgh art. Whe Godard placg i agast a moochrome agrouddepcs a ighociey eve whose atedee suddely be repeaigadverieme for a ew car ad ew chc uderwear e reultatreak i the oud ad image couum eded o reveal the formso efalieao ad of estraged soa relaoship that are producedy te aguage of commodtie Whe Mara Roer juxaposes phoograph o the war i Veam wih adversemet for petyourgeoifuure ad household goods - he epitome of America happie - it ieded to reveal the realitie of imperalit war tha lie udeeah

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E PARADOXE OF POCA A

sandardied images of indvidual hainess and the emre of hecommodity tha ies undeeath the wars waged n defence of the 'freeword'.4 Bt he aparently cearcut ogc of disanaon acualy

esens a conradcon aims o rodce a sensory ash and to mobie bodes hrough the resentaon of a strangeness of an enconterbetween heerogeneos elements. Tha s it aims to roduce an eec ofstrangeness in order o engender an awareness of the underyng reasonsof tha srangeness which s antamount to suressng . one and

he same rocess it endeavours o roduce a fuson between heaesthec ash of heterogeneos forms of sensory resenation and hecorrecion of he behavour hrogh reresentaon beween aeshec

separaon and ehica continuy. e dosf of he critica work snot annuled by his conradcion snce t can conribe to changinghe carograhy of the sensible and the hinkabe. The eec therebyroduced s no a knd of calcabe ansmission beween arisic shoinellecua awareness and poliical mobiliation. There is no reason why

the rodcon of a sho roduced by wo heerogeneos forms of hesensible ought o yield an undersanding of the state of he word andnone why undersandng the latter ogh o roduce a decison to change

Thee is no sraigh ah from he vewing of a secace to an understanding of the sate of the word and none om inelecal awarenesso olical acon. Insead ths knd of shift imies a move from one

given word o anoher in whi caaciies and ncaacies foms oftoerance and inolerance are dierenly dened What comes o ass sa rocess of dissoaon a rutre in he reationshi beween sense andsense between what seen and wha s hought and between what though and wha is felt. What comes o ass a rupture in the secic

conguraon hat alows s to say in or' assied laces in a venstae of things ese sorts of rres can haen anywhere and a any

me but they can never be caclated.This gap which separates he aims of itical art from ts real fos of

eecveness can remain so ong as there exist pate of inellbilyand foms of mobiiation srong enough to sustain the asc rocedres

ha in u are sosed to susain hem. Cri whose rortedtask s o roduce foms of polical awareness and mobiliaon s in acalfac always boyed by he selevidence of a dssensual wod. The queson

ha hus arises is: 'what haens to criical art in he contex of consensus?' Consensus means far more than simy a new way of goveg

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that, n order to avoid conics, appeals to eertise, arbitraton and he

agreement of he respecve pars of a poplaion. Insead, consensus san agreement between sense and sense, n oher words between a mode

of sensory presentaion and a reme of meanng. Consensus, as a modeof goveen, says: is perfecly ne for people o have different nerests, values and aspiratons, nevertheless there s one unique realty towhich everyhng must be relaed, a realy tha is experenceable as asense daum and whch has only one ossibe sigicaon The contexthat s nvoked to enforce he deas and practces peraning to 'consensusis, as we ow, 'economc globaizaion Precisey for he reason ha tpresens sef as a goba deveopment that s ear-cu and irrefuable,

regardless of ones opnions abou t good or bad!Ths ical dioitif sars to sin around tsef. We are no dealng

here with he shf from a 'modes to a 'post-modes paradgmPostmodesm might desae a cerain knd of mood bu by nomeans does i refer o a specc knd of arisc paradgm In fac, over helast 30 years, he procedures and rheorc of he 'crcal disposif barey changed. Today, ndeed, much art continues to asser no only s but aso is ably to denoun he regn of the commodiy, ts conc

deas and putrd excrement. Cals for he need o strggle aganst thesocey of the specae, to develo pracices of dtouement, continue ocome from lquarters And they do so by invokng he same standard

reperoire of denuncatory enques: parodes of promotona ms;re-processed dsco sounds; advertsing cons or media sars modeled inwax gures; Dsney animals tued nto polymohous pervers; montages of 'veacular photographs depcing standardzed pey-bourgeoisvngrooms, overloaded supermarke troleys standardized eneran

men and the exemen of consumers cvlzaion; huge insalaons ofpipes and machnes hat depict the bowes of the socia machine as itswallows everyhng and tus t ino shi ese sors of rheorcadposiifprevail in a good many galeries and museums professing o

be reveaing he power of the commodiy he reign of the specacle orhe poography of ower Bu snce t s very dcul to nd anybodywho s acualy oran of such hngs the mechanism ends up spinnngaround isef and paying on he very undecdabiy of its eec In heend, the dositif feeds off the very equvaence between parody as tque and the parody ofque feeds o the undecidabiiy beween

hese wo eecs Ths undecdabiiy tu tends o bol down o the

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E PARADOXE OF POCA A

simpe parodic mie-en-cene of t own magic; nfornaey, however, ihas become neasingy clear ha ths mode of manifestation s also hatof the commody iself.

The crcal dioitif ndergone a transformation in the context ofconsenss that has broght wh i wo knds of response. Firs, he s made tha ar ms become more modest, hat, instead of professng tobe able to reveal the hidden conradictions of or word, oght help oresore the basc social fncons hreatened by he regn of the marke,

st an atenve gaze on the objecs of he common world and thememory of or common hisory, and emphasize he sense of aking parin a common word Second, it seems that he shnng of polcal space

has conferred a sbstive vale on arsc pracce. s neasingythe case that ar is starng o appear as a space of refge for dissensalpracce, a pace of refge where he relaions etween sense and sensecontine to e qesioned and re-worked s fac has ven a renewed

impets to he idea ha ars vocation is acaly to step osde itsef toaccomplish an intervenon n he real word These wo opposed rend,hen rest in a form of schizophrenc movemen, a shtlngbaandforh beween the msem and s oide, beween ar and socia

pracice a rs step, hen, a shf takes pace, as strateges of crica ash are

replaced by those of esmony, archve and docmentaon, processes

seekng to gve s a new percepton of he traces of or hsory and thesgns of or commny. Let s ilstrae this shf from ccal ar otesimony ar wh an exampe: in a work of the 1970s, Chris Brdenmade a sor of conter-monmen caled e Other eam Monument,dedicated to al the anonymos Venamese vcms of he ecan war.

e monment ndes copper plaqes on whch Brden engraved henames of oher anonyms, that Vienamese names ped randomlyfrom a phone direcory By contrast, n 2002 Chrisan Boanski aso

presened s with a work hat deals with the sbjec of anonymy anddrecories, an insalaon caled Le abonn du tlhone. The nstalaion consists of wo sheves lled wih direcories from arond he wordbeween whch two abes are paced so that visitors can si down andconslt heir chosen drecory The pont of hs work s no onger o venames o hose left nnamed y the invaders Nor i the anonymy irefers o empotted in any knd of conroversy Here, the anonymos, asBoansk himsef says, smpy become spemens of hmaniy Bolans

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DSENU

semens were resented in Pars as ar of a arge exhibion tocommemorate he new cenry whch inded for examle a work byHans eer Fedmann of 00 hotograhs of indvdas aged om o

00 years ad a hge nstallation y Peer Fischl and Davd Wess caledMone ble (9872000) consising of hndreds of sides tha ookedidencal o the hotograhs aken by toss of famos stes fromarond he word aso incded an stallaon tha s a favorieof may msems today namely a big mosaic by Chiese arst BYlo caled e People Made of 600 hoos sched ogether heinstalatio reresents he anoymos mtde and her ivingenvironments an atemt in he arss words to oin o the delicae

hreads niting famlies and commnies The work s resened thenas the anciated reaity of wha evokes Art is sosed to niteeole n a way ha is comarabe wth the racce of sching hoosogeher a mehod tha Ylo rs deveoed whle working as anemloyee in a hoo sdo The hoograh ends simltaneosy oecome a scltre hat already makes rese what t is abo The

conce of meahor omniresent in cratoral rheoric oday hs acsas a concealization of this new conjncon etween reresenationa

dstance and ethca immediacy of hs antciaed denty beween theworks reresenation of i sgnication and the embodied reaiy of that

signicaon.

There s a doble lay here between the work and ts sosed eecwhich we see even more vividly n forms of ar hat caim o have overcome the searation beween the msem and is otsde or beweenarsc erformance and social acvsm sch art rorts no onger torodce dicaes of objecs images or messages bt instead real

acons or objecs tha engender new forms of social reatonshs andenvronments The wo concets of elaon and nlaon eitomze theend ese nces reresen two aems to ansform the haeyedcqe seeng o demonsrate the ower of the market or he media inoa form of direc social acon. In one resec at sse is to resore a cerainsense of commnity to conter the bond-dissolving effects of consmer

sm. Sch s for exame he remise of relatona art: he desre oeate new forms of relaonshi in msems and galeries as wel aso rodce modcations in the rban envromen in order o brng

ao a change in he way is erceived In this ven we might recal arecent atemt o dentify he rodcon of arstic arefacs and he

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E PARADOXE OF POnCA A

mafetao f ew form of ocial reaohip - amely Lucy Orta'raformae ojec Created a par of a colecve dweli projectthee objec ca be ued oh a a 'home ad a a form of coecive ik

that work to fore 'at coecio etwee roup ad dividuaThi kd of 'ocia architecure eem to cotte the hrd ae aparcuar evoluo ar rt here wa the time of he Werkud adthe Bauhau whe art ecame eeer ad deier wh he aimof reframi e eviromet of everyday life The came the ime of'crical eeer whe for example Kryztof Wodko iveted hhomele vehe or hi aie taff a daectcal tool to qeo hedplicity of pulic pace Wh Orta ew toether of 'tetohe

however thi poemica horizo ar to diappear ad i replaced y acocepo of the artt a eator of ew commuty od Thi hift clearly iutrated y a work preeted at the Sao Pauo bieae yCba art Re Feadez Feadez, u a rat he received oma arit foudao coducted a urvey i he poor ur of Havaareovi after t wa competed to tervee i that itao of mieryy retori a poor old woma hoe wh ome felow art Thework coited of a ee made of aze o whch wa prited the

imae of he od cope ook at e 'rea cree a videoape howu he ar worki a mao plumers ad paiter Thi demotra

o accord perfecy wh curret otio of art a a mea of retorihe oa od But ecaue it took pace oe of he at 'commutcote it wa worked to a or of parody of he reat amo hatpred art he time of Maevtch: to repace the prodcio ofpati wih attempt to frame ew form of life

There have alo ee aemp to o beyod he mit of crical

demorao y ui t a a tratey to ubver the fuco of themarket, he meda ad o o Frace hi ratey eptomized bythe work of art Matthieu Lauree Laurete decided he would ake thepromie of 'atifaco uarateed or your moey ack made by foodcompae at face vale He wet o a campai ytemacaly uyhoe prodc o hat he coud expre hi 'datifacio eek remuremet ad e the alure of televiio to promote h veroe rel of proce wa preeted at he 'Space of cotemporaryAr i Pari where pecator were treated to a italatio coof hree eemet: a wax cupture by he art of hmelf ph aoverow upermarket roley a wal of motor how hm

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DIENU

explaining   strategy on and huge phoographs of iteationanewspapers reporng on hs endeavour. Laurete's claim, as one commentator put t s o have discovered a strategy to overtu both the

principle of surpus value and he principle of the game show Bu iseems o me hat he obviouness of ths overtuing of both markeand meda would not be so apparen were t no aready antpatedby he process of monumentaizing his actons and as con - hadhere een a sige se and sandardsze photographs of newspaperppings of   baainng straegies, the oveg migh no havebeen so sefevden The reay of the eec is actualy aready ancipatedin e process of monumeng  acts ad as icon. In acvis

nowaday a ear trend has emerged tha pays on te reaty of occupyingan exhbion space as a way of provng he rea eects of subverng thesocia order e end manifess a form of hypercomment to reaityhat shortrcus reecon on the powers of arsc practces by relyingon he combined effects of the selfevidence of sculptura presence,action n he real world and rhetorical demonstraon attemps toexceed consensus by supplementng t with resence and meang Bui may wel be tha oversauraon is the very aw of consensus iself The

more ar l rooms of exhbons with monumenazed reproductonsof the objecs and icons of everyday ife and commodty culture, themore i goes nto the streets and professes to be engang in a form ofsocia intervenion and the more anicipates and mmcs is own eect hus sks becoming a parody of is aleged efcacy

thus appears that art does no become ica or polical by movngbeyond isel, or departng om tsef and ntervenng in the reaword There no rea world hat fnctions as he outside of art.

Instead, there is a mulpliciy of fods in the sensor fabrc of the common,fods in which ouside and nside take on a muiplicity of shifing form,n which the opography of wha is in and wha is ou are coninualycrissossed and dsplaced by the aeshetcs of poliics and the polics of

aeshetcs. There s no rea world Instead, there are denie conguraions of wha is given as our real, as the object of our percepions and theeld of our nterventon The rea always s a mater of consrucion amater of cton, in the sense hat I ted o dene t above. Whatcharacterize he manstream ction of he poice order s tha t passessef o as he rea, ha t fes o draw a clearcu ine between wha

belongs to he selfevidence of he real and wha beongs to he eld of

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THE PARADOXE OF POLCAL ART

aeaances eesenaions opnons and oias. Consenss means

ecisely hat he senoy ven a nvoca. Poliica and asc cionsinodce dssens by holowing o hat eal and myng in a

olemical way. The acice of con ndoes and hen eacatesconnecons beween sgns and images images and imes and sgs andsaces faming a ven sense of ealty a ven commonsense I aacce ha invens new ajectoies between wha can be seen, whacan be sad and wha can done.

is a acce hat shakes he dsibon of laces and comeences, and which heeby woks o b he bodes dening its ownacviy. ong a means dislacing as bodes, jst as doing olcs

means disacing the bodes of wha s acknowedged as the olical.spang as bodes does not mean eaving a tha s making thelea fom cion (o eesentaon) to ealiy. acces of a do noovde foms of awaeness o ebeios imses for oliti. No dothey take eave of hemseves to become foms of colectve policaacion They contbte to the conson of a fom o commonsensetha s oemica o a new andscae of the visible the ayable andthe doabe.

They may hs conibte o consittng a new dea of what ccaat cod mean oday. Fo ccal a s no so mch a ype of a ha

eveals the foms and conadicions of domnaon as i s an ahat qesons s own lms and owe tha efses to anciae itsown effecs. This is why ehas one of he most ineestng conibons to the faming of a new landscae of the sensbe has been made byfoms of a that accet hei insciency ha efse he scleefomance model o by asc acces tha nltae he wod ofmake and social eaons and he eman content to be mee images oncibaome, seens and monitos. They se hose fagile sfaces tocomose a oostion on what that s ven to see to s and aninteogaon no he owe of eesentaon Unsisngly, many ofthose asc oosons focs on matte of sace teitoes bodes,wasteands and ohe tansen laces mates hat ae cal o odaysisses of owe and commnity. Le me menon among ohes theewoks hat seem o me aclaly sgncant n hs esec.

e st is a by Chanal keman, De 'autre t whi deals whhe fence along he US-Mexco bode. e not abo immgaon

o bode-ossing b abot he fence self, boh as a mateal objec

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50

DIENU

and as an objec of discourse Whe so many lm-makers focus on hedrama nvoved n crossig the order ad pont out the conradicionshat exist between he reaties of the US economy and he njusces and

prejudices of US naonalism, Akerman pays on he eemens of theirdissociation. Sometimes she has he camera move aong he fence,makng us feel its inuman srangeness, especialy under night lighting.The res of the tme, however, she uses to present either he hopesatemps and faures on the Mexcan side, or he conces ad fears othe Amercan sde The lm's pocal mpact conssts precisely n theway t us an economc and geopolitica issue into an aesthec mater,he way n whch produces a conontation etween two sdes, and a

seres of concing narraves around the raw mateaiy of he fenceSmilar o Akerman's way of deang wh he border are photographerSophie Ristelhueber's representations of Israei boades on Palestinianroads. stead of choosing o phoograph the bg Wal sef, Rsehuebertook shots of ite bockades on minor coun roads om a brd's-eyeperspecive, and hence from a pon of vew from whch te ite rosnearly dsappear no the andsape. The atemp here is to eec asime dsplaent from the more specacular but haneyed affec of

ndignation o he (less specacuar) aec of curiosiy.The second, a work caled Give me he Coours (2003 y videoars

Anri Sala, uses video as a means o reec on art's oica power Hsvdeoinsalatio resens a projec, inaed by the mayor of rana andreminscent of the Schileria projec of he aeshetic educao of Man',n which he mayor decided o have al he house facades of hs townrepainted in bright coours n order o engender a new sense of aestheccommunity among its citizens. Saa's camera movemens work in such away as to produce a confrontaon beween the discourse of he poicaartst and both he rundown characer of the muddy street andseemngly the circuation of ts inabants, as wel as he absraessof he patches of colours on he was lning t The point, it seems, s ouse he means specic o dstan art in order to queson a prevalenpolics of art n oher words, it seems o be a drec atemp o fuse arand fe into a snge process.

The thrd work is a lm caled No Quarto da Vanda y Portugueselm-maker Pedro Cosa7 The lm is abou he fe of a group of youngunderdogs who, caught between a fe of drugs or smal usiness, resdein a poor suburb of Lsbon hat is sowly beng rased by buldozers Whe

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THE PARADOXE OF POTICAL A

so-called 'relationa ariss busy themselves wih inventing rea andfancy monuments and eang unexpeced situaons o engender newsocal relaoships n poor suburbs, Pedro Costas eor is o ake a

paradoxica look at he possibilities avalabe o ar and lfe in a parcularsituaon of misery: from the srangely coloured archecture resultingom the demolion tseH o the efforts of nhabants amidst he effecsof drugs and despar, to recover a voce and a capaciy o tel heir ownstories. ere too he polics of ar paradoxicay consists n setgaside al enomic and soal 'elanaons of the exstence ad desucon of he shany town to denfy a more specicaly polical element: heconfronaon beween he power and the impotence of a body between

a life and s possbles This way of addressing the 'truly poicahowever does not manage o sdesep the incacuabe tenson betweenpolitica dssensuality an$ aeshec nderence canno sdestep thefac that a lm remains a m and a secaor remains a specator Fvdeo ar photography and instaaon ar rework the ame of ourperceons an he dynamism of our aecs such hey may openup new passages for polica subjecivation bu they cano avodhe aeshetic cu tha separates consequences om entions and

prevens her om beng any direc passage o an oher sde of wordsand images.

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CHAPTER ELEVENThe Politics of iterature

I wsta by elaining what my le means - and rst of lwha i doesno mean. e poli of literature not the liti of its er. does nodeal wth heir ersona commient the social and political issues and

strggles of heir mes Nor does t deal wih the modes of represenaion

of polica evens or the socia sructure and he social strugges n theirooks The syntaa 'politcs of lieature means ha lierature does

polics as literature - that here is a specic nk beween olics as adente way of doing and lieratre as a dee prace of wriing.

To make sense of ths satement, I will rst briey sel ou he idea ofpolitc ths involves Polics s commonly viewed as the practice ofower or he emodimen of collective wils and interess and he enactment of colective ideas. Now, sch enactments or embodments impytha you are aken ino accoun as subjects sharing in a common word,making staements ad no simply nose, discussing hings ocaed in a

common wod and not in yor own fantasy. Wha realy deseres thename of polics is he custer of percepons and practices that shape thiscommon word. Poltcs is rs of al a way of amng, among sensorydaa, a specic sphere of experience a partion of the sensbe, of the

vse and the sayable, which alows (or does no allow) some specicdaa to appear; whch allows or oes no alow some spec subjects odesignate them and speak aout hem It is a spec interwning ofways of being, ways of doing and ways of speaking

e politic of lieraure hus means hat lieraure as lterature isinvolved in his partiton of he visbe and the sayabe, in ths intertwn

ing of being, doing and saying tha frames a polemical common word

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E POL OF LERARE

Now he poin i wh s men by lierure s ierure? Sus

ingly ew mong he poiti or soil ommenors o lierure hveid enton o erures own hsoriy We ow however h

lssiying he r o wrtng under the noion o ierure s no odWe n r i bk o pproximey the benning o he nneeenthenury Bu is hve no oten dedued y onsequene rom ths

Some o them hve ried desperely o onnet ierure (ken s hehisoril nme o he r o ing in gener) wth poliis oneveds hso se o ores evens nd ssues Ohers hve ried o ve

spei onen o the noton o erure Unortuney hs ws done

on very wek bsis by reerrng ierures modeiy o the ser or

n inrnstve lnguge On his bsis the onneton ws nilywed Either there ws no wy o bindng ogether ierry inrnsviyd pot ton wih rt or rs ske oposed o poli ommimen or one hd o ssume quie obsure reionship beween ierry

intrnstvy (oneived o s he mes primy o he sgner)nd he meis roniy o revoluonr poli

Srre proosed knd o gentemns greemen by opposng he

inrnstvy o poery o the rnsivy o rose wrtng Poes he

ssumed used words s hings nd hd no ommitmen o the poiuse o ommunve speeh Prose wrers by ontrs used words s

oos o ommunion nd were uomilly ommited o the rming o ommon world Bu the dstnon proved o be nonssenAer hving rbued he opposton o the ver disition o two

ses o nguge Srre hd o expin why prose wriers ke Fluberused words in he sme inrnsitve wy s dd poes And he hd o

pursue endlessly he reson or his boh in the sd reliies o lss

strugge n the 1 850s nd n the neuross o he young Gusve Fluber other words he hd o pursue ousde o lierure polii omm

men o ierure whih he hd rs puorted o ground on s ownnguis speiy s no su or peronl ure t the

idenion o ierure with se ste or use o nguge hs nore lingusi relevne nd i nno ground ny speiiy o ierureor s poliil invovemen Moreover proves very mbiguous in isprti use nd we hve o del wth his mbguiy i we wno move orwrd in undersnding lierure s new sysem o he

r o wrng s wel s s relionshp o the politil prtton o

he sensble

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DENU

I woud highlgh this pon by compang two polca eadings of thesame noveist taken o be he embodiment of a fo as sake and teauonomy of ieatue. I have just efeed to Saes aalyss of

Flaube. Fom hs point of vew, Flaube was he champon of anaisoaic assault agans he demoac naue o pose language.e used poses tanspaency of wods o eate a new fom of opaciy.As Sate pu t 'Faube suounds the objec, seizes immoblizes itand beaks s back changes ino sone and eies the objec as wel.Sae expaned hs petication as he contbuion of bougeos wtes o he stategy of thei ass. Faube Malam and he coleaguespuoed o chalenge he bougeos way of thinkng and hey deamt

of a new aisocacy living in a wod of pue wods conceved of as asee gaden of pecious sones and owes. Bu he ivae paadsewas nohing bu he ceestial pojecton of he essence of pivate owneship. ode to shape t they had to tea wods away fom hose whocould have used them as tools of social debae ad suggle.

So the ltea petcaon of wods and objecs wen aong with hebougeois ani-democac stategy. Bu the agument of peication ofthe anguage had a ong hso.

Long befoe Sae the same agument had bee made by conempoay commentaos of Flaube. They ponted ou n Faubes pose afascaon fo detai and a ndeence towads he human meanngof actions and chaactes ha ed hm o ve he same mpoance omaea hngs and o human beings. Babey dAuevily summed upthe ccism by saying hat Flaube was caying his senences jus asa woke caes   sones befoe hm in a wheelbaow. of themageed hat his pose was he peicaion of human acon and human

anguage. And a of them ike Sate a cenuy ae hough that hisecaon was no a mee leay devce ha caied a deep poiticalsigncance. Now he pon s hat he nineteenh-cenuy ccsundestood hs deeny. Fo hem peticaon was the symptom ofdemoc. Flaubets disegad fo any deence bewee ig and owsubjec maes fo any hieay beween foegound and bagoundand ulmaey bewee men and hings was he halmak of demoacy.Ideed, Faube had no polica commment. e despsed equalydemocas and consevatives, and assumed hat he wie should beunlling to pove anyhng on any mae. Bu even tha atitude ofnoncommimet was fo hose commenaos he mak of demoacy.

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THE POTI OF TERATURE

What demoacy, f not the eqa ablty to be demoat ant-demoat

or ndierent to boh demoacy and andemoacy? Whatever Faubermight hnk abot he common people and he repbican form of

goveent, hs prose was the embodment of democracy.There wold be te point in proving that Sartre mistook a reaconary

argument for a revoluonary argument. is more reevant to have acloser ook at he nk between he 'indierence of a way of wrtng andhe opposite satements it alows for. appears that three thngs arebond together: a way of wtng whout 'meanng anythng, a way o

reading ths wriing as a symptom hat has to be intereted and twoopposite ways of makng ths potca reading

I woud like to show that ths very lnk between a way of wriing, away of reading and two ways of nterpretng can lead us to he core ofthe qeston The 'indierence of wriing, he pracce of symptomatcreadng and the polical ambguity of hat reading are woven in hesame fabric. And his fabrc might be iteratre as sch: terature conceved neiher as the art of wring n genera nor as a specic state ofhe langage, bt as a histoca mode of visibity of wing, a speclnk between a system of meanng of words and a system of visblity

of hingsThis mode of vsbty nvoves a specc system of the ecency of

words, wh dsmsses anoher system e conrasing of 'iteratre assuch, terature as the mode reme o he ar of wring, to he oldworld of representaton and blls ls is not he opposion beweentwo sates of he langage. Nor s t an opposton beween the servtudeof mimsis and he atonomy of sefreferenia wriing. It s he opposion of two ways of lnking meaning and acon of amng he reatonbetween the sayable and the vsbe, of enabling words wih the power ofaming a common world s an opposton between two ways of doingthngs wh words.

Ths is what was invoved n the icsm made by the Fren ampons of the old terary reme, not only against Flabert, but against al the

new writers: they had ost he sense of hman acon and human meaning. For us his means that hey had ost he sense of a certain kind of'acon and of a certain way of undersanding the between aconand meanng What was that sense? order to ndersand t we have toremember he old Arstoteian prncpe hat susaned the edice of represenaon. Poery Aristote assmed s not a specc se of language

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DIENU

oty s ion And cton an itaton of acting n W know thatthis potc pnpl also was a political pncipl st foh a hachyopposing th casal atonality of actions to th piics of lf as t

nfoldsoty Astotl said s o phlosophil' than hstoy bcaus

poty bilds casal plots bndng vnts togth n a whol wl

histoy only tlls th vnts as thy volv pivilg of aion ovlif dstingshd nobl poty o bas histoy to th tnt tat it

dstinguishd thos who act o thos who do nothng but 'lv' whoa nosd in th sph of podctv and annglss lif. As a

consqnc ion was divdd nto dint gns of iitations.

Th w high gns dvotd to th tation of nobl actions andchaacts and low gns dvotd to coon popl and bas sbctatts Th hachy of gns also subttd styl to a pinpl of

hiachcal convnnc: kngs had to act and spak as kngs do andcoon popl as coon popl do Th convnton was not siply

an acadc constant Th was a hoology btwn h atonality

of potic tion and th intllgibility of han aions concivd ofas adquaton btwn ways of bng ways of doing and ways of

spakngFo that pont of viw w can g ot at st sght what pst th

dfnds of h bee e in th woks of th nw wits wasth dsissal of any pnpl of hay aong h chaacts andsbct ats of any pncpl of appopiatnss btwn a styland a subct att. Th nw pnpl was statd in all its dity byFlaub: th a no hgh o low sbct atts. Fth t s nosbt att at all bcas styl is an absolut way of sng things

This absolutzaton of styl ay hav bn idntd afwads wth ana-political o aistoac posion. But n Flabs t cold only b

intptd as a adical galitaan pncipl pstng th whol syst

of psntaon th old gi of th at of wng It tud upsddown a can noality pt as an adqaton btwn ways of bngways of doing and ways of spakng Th nw pincpl bok that

adquaon Th 'astocac absolutzaon of styl wnt along with th'docatic pincipl of ndinc wnt along with th vsal of

th old hiachy btwn nobl aion and bas lif

On that gond w could asly constt a politcs of ltatucontasng th galitaan pnpl of indffnc to th hiachical

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E POL OF LERARE

aw of he od regime Sh a 'polis of lteratre od qare wih de

Toqevilles idea of demoay, oneived as he 'eqalty of onditionBt we annot end matters hat easiy Demoray s more han a soial

state s a spei parition of he sensie a spei reme of peakngwhose ee is to pset any steady reaonshp etween manners ofpeakng manners of doing and manners of eing s in this sense thatlteratre opposed its 'demoray to he represenationa herarhyWhen Voltare aonted for the power of Coeles tragedies he madea sgniant argment He sad that his ragedies were performed n ontof an adiene made of orator magsrates preahers and generas He

meant an adene made of peope for whom peaking was the ame a

aing Unfortnatey he asmed he adene of his own me was noonger omposed of those speialists of he ang word was onymade he sad of a nmer of yong gentlemen and yong adies Thatmeant anyody noody no addressee e represenaonal regme ofwriing was ased on a dente idea of the peea Wrting waspeaking And speakng was viewed as he a of he orator who spersadng the poplar assemly even thogh here was no poplarasemy) was vewed as he a of the preaer plfing sol or he

genera harangng his roops The repreenationa power of dong arwth word was ond p with he power of a soal herarhy ased

on the apaty of addresing appropriate kinds of speea to appropriate kinds of adenes

Flaer and his peers on he ontrary addressed the adiene sgmaized y Voltaire a nmer of yong ades and yong genlementeratre is this new regime of wring in whh the wrter s anyodyand the reader anyody This why ts entene are 'mte peles

They are mte n he sene hat they had een ttered ong ago y Patowhen he ontrasted the wanderng of he orphan etter to he ivingogos, panted y a master as a seed in he so of a dsipe where told grow and ive The 'mte leter was he leter that went ts waywhot a faher to gide t was he etter hat poke to anyodywthot knowing to whom t had to peak and to whom it had not e'mte leter wa a letter hat spoke too mh and endowed anyoneat with the power of peaking my ook no l'htoie, 1 I proposed to ve he name of iterariness to hs avaialty of he o-aled'mte leter hat determnes a paron of the perepe in whh onean no onger ontrast hose who speak and hoe who ony make noise

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DIENU

hoe who c nd hose who only ie. Sch ws he democrtic reolion pinpoined by the reconry cric e Flbern ritocrcy ofsye w orinly ed to the democrcy of he mte eer mening the

leter tht nybody cn retree nd se n his or her wyertre dcoers core h with the democrtic dorder of

lierrine. Lerre is he rt of writing h pecicy ddreesthose who hou not red his prdoxicl relonhip s he sbjecmter of mny nineeenthcentry work. I wil tke teling ceBzc' noe Le r de el which i ricy peng fble ofdemocy s literrines. he noe recons he dister csed by onesingle een: the redng of book by somebody who shod neer he

red one the sory of yong r Veronqe the dgher of nironmonger She ies n he ower end of he sml proinc town ofLimoges, n n ophere of bor reigon nd chty. One dy sVeonque is sroling wih her prents she ees on dispy in bookeler's shop book doed with nce engring. i Paul et ginie, noel fmed for s childike innocence. She by he book nd reds tAnd eeryhing goe wrong: he pre nd che book in the hnds ndmind of he pre nd te r become he mos dngero poion.

From tht dy on Veroniqe ener new life cred wy, Bzcwres, by 'he cut of he Ide th fl religion'. She drems of meeting her Pl nd ing wh him ife of pre nd te oe. Disterenes. Veroniqe become rch enters loees mrge wh bnker of he town. wethy pron, she meets n hones, nobe dpous young worker. hey fl in oe He become zy bot therdespere oe nd in order o ee wh her, he rob nd kils n odmn. He rrested, senenced to deh nd des withot denoncingVeronqe

s he demotic ilbility of the 'ded leter' become powerof deth hi eil m be redeemed. So in he lst prt of the book,Veronqe, now ch widow rere o sml illge nd rie o gnher slon gded by the conry prson. B the men of her tion re ery nge e pron doe no plift her ol wih podscorse nd the Hoy Siptre. e reson for ths is er: he eth csed he whoe dister w the inrsion of book in the ife ofomeone who shod neer he enered he world of wrting he eilmde by he 'me leters cnno be redeemed by ny word not eenby he Word of God. Redempon m be writen in nother kind of

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THE TIC OF TERATURE

wing, engraved in the esh of rea thing So he parson does not makeVeronique a nun, bt a conracor a businesswoman. He teaes herhow to make her fortune and increae he prosperity of he vlage by

colecng the foret's water n lces and irrigation trenche. Thubarren ands become rch meadows norihing prized catle. And jutbefore dying Veronque can how her repenance written on the landShe says, 'I have engraved my repentane upon h and n ndelibecharacer, a an everlang record It i wrtten everywhere in he edgrown green ( ) in the moutan' ream ted om their coureinto the plain, once wd and barren, now ferte and prodcve'

Ths make for a conitent concuion. The caue of he evil wa the

very partion of the percepble gronded on demoac literarity eredempon of the ev i anoter parition of the percepbe: no morehe od ierarchy of rank, no more he od privilege of the acng wordutered by he master, the pret, or the general, but the new power of ameaning rtten in he very fabrc of 'rea tings' That which can heathe evil done by he democratic 'mute' eter is anoher kind of mewting: a writing engraved on the body of thing and wthdrawn omthe atempt of the greedy son or daghter of plebeians The 'mte

pebbles' ths ake on another meanng. The colapse of he repreenaona paradi mean not only he colape of a hierarchca sytem ofaddress; it means the colape of a whole regime of meaning The reand herarches of repreenaon hng onto a dente k betweenaying and dong. poetry wa dened wih cion and con withe mtaon of acng men, it wa because the highest accomplishmentof human aon wa upposed to be the aton made by speaking tefIt is that power of the acing word that he popar orator of he Revou

ton had to away from the herarchica order of rhetoca cuture andappropriated for unexpeced aim But that dea of the pee-ac itselfreied on a denite idea of what meaning mean: meanng wa a reaonof addres om one to another. The hb of he ytem wa he ideaof speakng as sng words to produce approprate am: pecc movesn the o and moons of bodie.

e new reme of terature dsmied that connecion betweenmeanng and willing e parson coud no longer e words to moraizeto he pebeia' daughter Nor ould he reaconary ritic ue hem tomoralze to the wter Fauber and teach him wich subjec mater andaracers he houd oose. Bt te pebeian' daghter he worker-poet

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DIENU

an the miiant workers were equaly subjete o the onseqenes ofhe new regime of meanng the 1790s ther fahers ha appropatefor themseves he wors an senenes of Anien rhetori the age

of rheo was over Meanng was no more a relatonship between one an another te ot o be a relaionshp between sis anoher sgns

Sh was he reverse sie of he emoay of iteraure The meeters oere to the greeiness of plebean hiren were aken awayfrom them by another k of mueness e reationary ts themseves isovere hs ouble bin of terary muteness Ts he reason

they no eah Flaber wha he shol have one They expane

o her reaers tha Fabert o not have one otherwise beasehe was a wer of emoati times ey i not behave as efenersof rules or eahers of goo taste They behave as ntereters ofsympoms so ong hey enorse he ea ha he books they werefaulng for the sn of muteness spoke in another way hat they spokeo of her very muteness The mteness of eraure is another way

of speang another lk beween things an wors Flabes or Hugossentenes were mae of mte pebbes Now in he age of arhaeoloy

paleontology an phoogy whh was aso the ime of German Romansm everyoy knew tha pebbles oo spoke i ther own way Theyha no voe ut hey woe on their very boies the esmony of theirown history An hat estmony was mh more fahful han anysourse was he nfalse trh of things oppose o he esan hater of oraors Sh was he langage of terature ts sysem ofmeaning Meaning was no longer a reaionshp beween one ananoher ue ot o be a relaionshp beween sgns an oher sgns

The wors of erare ha to splay an epher he sgns an symptoms writen a me wring on he boy of thngs an n he fabri

of angageFrom that pont of view he muteness of ieraure took on another

meaning an hat meanng nvolve a erent poits is new ieaof me wng ha been poneere by Vo when he se ot o psethe fonaions of Astoean poeis y isosing the arater of there Homer' The re Homer was no a poe he representonasense meanng an nvenor of ons harater metaphors an

rhyms Hs soae tons were no tons o him fo he ve in atime when hisoy an tion were mingle His haraters he vaan

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THE POLm OF LITERATURE

Aciles or the we Nestor, were not characters as we have them but

personied abstractions becaue the men of his tme had neither thesense of ndividuaity, nor the capacity for astracon. s metaphors

ore wtness to an age where thought and mage, deas and thing coldnot be separated. Even is rhythms and mees reected a tme when

peaking and snging were nterchangeable. hort Homec poerythe essence of poetry, wa a language of chidood. was Vco adsmlar to the anguage of dum persons Another dea of the muteness

of literature was ined to ths new reme of meanng that boundtogether muteness and gncance poeticality and historicity And it

involved another idea of politics contrating the historicity enosed in

the etter to it demoatic availalty.Tis might account for the way the very name of literature, in its new

sense repaced the old blles es. s sually ad to have occurredaround 1800 and Germane de Stas book De a rare pulished in

800 s often taken as a tug point. But ths tug pont has twosking feature First, it does not point out any novety n the practce

of wting. What was changed wa the visblty of wtng. Germane deStal sad that he would not change anything in the rules of belles lees.Her sole conce was to hglght the relationsip between type ofsoeties and types of literature. t ths ltte additon was enough to set

up a new system of visibilty of wting. And that new ytem appeared

as a response to a dente political isue. Madame de Stal wrote at theend of the French Revolution, and she was the champon o a tird way,

opposed oth to revoluon and to counter-revoluon. he wanted toprove that the deas of progress and perfectblity uttered by the phloso

phers of the Enlghtenment, had not caused the revolutonary loodshedand terror as charged. They had not because the 'deas stated by thewriters dd not act as wills. Further they were the expresson of movements n society and civilzaton that do not depend on anyodys wll.

Lterature dd not act so much by eressing deas and wills a it dd bydspayng the character of a time or a society. ths context lterature

appeared at the same me as a new regme of writing, and anoher wayof reating to politics resting on this pnpe: wting s not imposing

one ll on another, in the fashion of the orator te priest or te general. is displaying and deciphering the ymptoms of a state of things. s

revealng the sgns of hitory, delvng as the geologist does, nto theseams and strata under the stage of the orators ad politcians the

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seams and straa tha underie is foundaion Fory years after De alraure, Jues Michelet woud se out to wrie the hisory of he FrenchRevoluion. He undoubedy was a great Repulcan Bu he was a

Repuican of 'terary tmes. When he reated the revouionary fesivals n the smal villages, he enhusiascaly referred to the esmonieswten by local oraors

Bu he d no quoe those wriings He conveyed what was speakingthrough her speeches: he voice of the soil at harvest me or the mudad he clamur of he dusral cys sree. n he times of lteraure,mute hngs speak eter han any oraor This s not a mater of pocalengagemen. It is a poics carried by iterature iself The Repucan

histoan pus i nto pay, he reaconary novelst does so as wel. Thisnew reme and new 'pol of lerature is at he core of he so-caledrealsic nove Its pnciple was no reprodung facs as hey are, ascrcs aimed. It was displayng he so-caled world of prosac aciviesas a huge Poem a huge fabc of signs and raes, of obsure ss thahad o displayed, unfoded and decphered e est example andcommentary of hs can e found n Balzacs Peau e chagn A ebegnnng of the nove he hero, Raphael, enters the showrooms of an

anique shop And here, Balzac wries 'ths ocean of fuhngs,nvenons, fashions works of ar and reics made up for hm an endless

poem The shop was ndeed a mixure of worlds and ages: he sodersoaccopou alongside he priests cboum; he Moors yatogan andthe gold sipper of the seragio; stuffed boas grnned a saned-gasswindows; a porrait of Madame Du Barry seemed o contempate anIndan chibbouk; a pneumatc macne was pokng ou the eye of theemperor Augustus and so on The mixture of the curosty shop made alojecs and mages equal Further, t made eah objec a poetc eement,a senstve form hat is a fabc of sigs as wel lthese ojects wore a

hstory on ther ody They were woven of sgns tha summarzed an eraand a frm of cviizaion nd heir random gatheng made a hugepoem each verse f whh cared the nne viruaiy of new sores,unfoding those sgns n new contexs. I was he encyclopeda of a themes and al the worlds, he compost in which he fossls of them werebended together Further on in the same ook, Bazac contrasts Byronthe poe who has expressed wih words some aspecs of sprua urmol,o he rue poe of he tme, a poe of a new kind Cuver, the naturals,who has done 'true poetry: he has reuit cies out of some teeh,

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THE POLm OF TERATURE

re-populated forest ou of some peed trace and re-dcovered racesof gians in a mammoth's foot. The so-caled reaist noveist acts n heame way He dipays the fos and hieroglyphs of history and civilza

on. He nfold he poeicaity, he hitoricty wrtten on he bodyof ordnary things the od representaional regme the ame of ntelligiiliy of hman actons was pateed on he model of the causaratonaity of volnary actions, linked together and amed at denteend Now, when meanng becomes a me' relaion of ign o i,hman actions are no onger intelligibe a uccessful or unsccessfuprsuts of aim y g character. And he character are no longerinteble throgh her ends. They are ineligibe hrough the ohes

hey wear the ones of their houes or the walpaper of ther rooms.This res n a very inereting nkage beween iterature sence

and poics Leraure does a knd of sdepoitc or meta-poliic. Theprincpe of hat poitcs' s to leave e common stage of he conlict ofwil in order o invesgate n he underground of oety and read hesymptom of hitory. It takes socia iaton and aracters awa fromher everyday earthbound realiy and dispays what hey truy are aphantamagoric farc of poec ss whi are hitorical ympoms

a wel For ther nature a poec sgns is he ame as heir natre ahistorical res and poical sympoms. This polics' of lieraureemerge as the dismssal of the poitcs of orators and miitans whoconceve of potcs as a trgge of wls and nteress.

We are movng owards a r anwer to or queson regarding thepolics of lierature as literatre Lteraure as ch displays a twoodpoitcs a wofold manner of recongrng sensory daa On he onehand dsplays the power of iterariness he power of he me' leterhat pets not ony the hierarches of he repreentaional sytem bao any pncipe of adeqaton beween a way of eing and a way ofspeang On the other hand ses in moton anoher polcs of theme letter: the idepoitc or meapoliics tha subsiutes the decpherng of the me meaning wtten on the body of things for thedemocraic chatering of the leer

e dupiciy of he mute leer has two conseqences. e rsconseqence regards he socaed poica or scentc' xpanaon ofliterare. Sartres awed argument aout Flaubert s not a peronaland caua make More deepy t bears wtness o the strange sat ocrical dscorse abot lierature For a eat 1 50 year darng crics

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DIENU

have purpored o dioe he poitcal mpor of iteraure, to pel ouis unconou dcoure o make t confes what it was hidg andrevea how its ctons or pate of wrting unwtngy ciphered he

aw of the oa strucure he market of symboic goods and he srucureof the literary ed But lhose aempts o el he ruh abou ieraturein he or Freudan key or in the Benjama or Bourdieuankey, rae he same problem ha we have already encountered e pates of ther ica explanaion of what erature ays reie on hesame ytem of meaning ha underpned the ractce of iteraure telfNo uriingly, they very ofen came upon the same problem as Sarre he same way, they endorsed as new itica insgh on ierature the

ocia and poiica inereaion of neteenhcenury conservatvesFurther, he pates they had o use to reveal he truth on iterature arehe pates framed by ieraure tsef Exaing oetohand reaiieas phanasmagorias bearing wtne o he hdden ruth of a soey, hiate of ineigibility wa the venon of lierature ief Telinghe ruth on the urface by traveling in he underground, peing outhe unconou ocia ext lyig undeeath hat also wa a oinvented y ierature self

Benjamin explained the structure of Baudelaire' imagery hrough theproces of commodcaion and the opographica gure of paageand oterng But he exlaaton make sene on he ground of a denite mode of ineigiity he model of decphering he unconscioushierogyph, amed by neteenthcentury iterature, reelaboraed byProus and orrowed from hm by Benjamin Benjamin refers o theMarxit anay of he commodty as a feth Bu the Balzaan parad of the hop as a poem had to exit r, o alow for the anaysi of

the commodity a a phanasmagora, a thig ha seems obvous a rstgance bu actualy rove o be a fabric of hieroglyphs and a puzzle ofheoogica quibe Marxs commody em from he Bazaan shopnd the analysis of fethim can accoun for Baudeares poetry, nceBaudelaire otering akes pace no o much in the passage of theaian boulevard as t does in the same Bazacian shop or workshop

The sympomac readng ha undes he pracces of hitorial orsocioloca erretaion wa rt of al a poeca revoluton And heescience had o orrow from nave' iteraure he pate for ghightig t nave and telg the truth abou its ilusons Now, he secondcoequence conce ieraure ief The poic of iteraure u ou

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E POL OF LERARE

o be he onct of two pos of the mute leter: he olitic of liter

arness and the politcs of symptomatc readng Balzacs Cr d lgsll s a good case in poin The el done y democratc ierariess has

o be redeemed y the power of a wrting engraed n the ery lesh ofhings But ths ctiona souton is a deadend for ieraure itsef Werei taen a face aue, t would mean tha the writer mus stop ing,

must ee sient and cede he pace to the enneers, who now the rghway to in men togeher he righ way o wrte withou words in theesh of thngs This was no smpy a ctonal inenon was he core

of the uopa spelled out in the 830s, a few years before Balzac wroe hs

noeL y the SainSmonan engineers and priests no more words,

no more aper or literature Wha is needed to bnd people ogether isralways and canals

Bazac did not stop writing of course Bu he spen e year compet

ng he oo He rewroe and rearranged the order of he hapers in

order to hae he hermeneutc pot match the narrae pot Bu hefaled o sole he contradcion Tha contradicton dd not oppose thereaisc wrter o the Chrisian moralis I was the selfcontradiction of

he politcs of lieraure The noeist wrtes for people who should not

read noes The remedy to the ei that he eoes is anoher ind ofwrtng Bu tha oher nd of wriing, pushed o he extreme, meansthe suppresson of lteraure e poli of literature carres a conradcon hat can sole only y selfsuppression This contradcton s at

pay in the case of the apoliical ter as well as in the er who wansto coney a politcal message and heal social problems

When Fauber wrote Madam Boa he was unwiling o denounceany moral or social trouble He only wanted to 'do literaure Bu doing

literature meant erasing he ol differences beween ow and high subject maers; t meant dsmssing any nd of specic anguage The aimof he wrter was o mae ar inisible e misae of Emma Boary, byconas, was her will to mae ar e, o pu art in her life oent

in her house, a piano in her parour and poetry in her destny Faubert

would isingush his ar from tha of his haraer by putng art only nhis boo, and mang inisile In order o trace the borerne separaing his art from tha of his character his prose ha o go oeroard onhe muteness of common lfe Tha new ind of mute wrng would no

longer the silent anguage engraed in he esh of maeal thngs would he radcal muteness of hings, whch hae neither wil nor

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meanng oud express in its maicence e nonsense of life ingeneral. e prose of te artst dsingused tsef om te prose ofeveryday life nsofar as it as sl mer stl more deprved of poery'

at oer knd of me ng resus in anoter knd of sef-suppression Faer's ast nove Bouad et Pchet, te to clerks fa in aer endeavours to manage teir life accordng to e prinpes rtenin er ooks of medcine agronomy arcaeoogy geoogy posopypedagogy etc te end ey decide o go a to eir od job of copyngInsead of rying o appy e ords of e books in real life tey only copy em s is good medne for e dsease of iterarness andis poitca dsorder Bu is good medcine s e selfsppression of

iterare e noveist msef as noing more o do tan o copy eooks ta s caracers are supposed to copy te end e as o ndois plot and ur e oundary separating te prose of ar for ar's sake'from e prose of e commonpace Wen ar for ar's sake' ants oundo ts nk o te prose of democracy as to ndo tsef Once moret s no a maer of personal failure Bazac's Cristan and conservaivecommtmen comes p aganst e same conradicton as Fauer'snilism e same goes for te revoionary atempts o create ot of

e ermenetic poer of iteratre a angage ta ould make ifeclearer to tsef and ange te selfntereaton of fe ino a ne kindof poem taking par n e framng of a ne orld and a ne coectvelife In e tmes of e Parisan revolutonary Commune Rmaud caledfor a ne poery ta ould as e desced no longer ve is rytmto acion rn efore i in advance He caled for poems led nmers and armony for a language open o e ve senses a anguage of e so for e soul contaning eveg smes sonds

and colors is dea of a poetry of te fure' as n ne teRomantc idea of anent Greek poetry as e musc of a colectve odyAnd it mg sound strange ta suc an dea of poery came o te forein e imes of ee verse and prose petry en poetry as ecomigess and ess a maer of rytm and metre and more and more a materof image But is inconsstency is consstet i te poitics of literareat pu e Bazacian sop n e pace of e rac cors Accordngo te loc of eraure te rytm of e fture ad to e invented outof e commodtes and fosss of e cuosty sop e Rimaldianantqe sop as e poor man's sop as te sop of tose scrapsat Rimad ss a e eginnng of s Aimie du verbe' supid

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TE POLITI OF LITERATURE

pinngs, pop engvngs, itle eo books doo pnels, siyefns . .

Rmud wned o onne two ides of poey: poety s hyhm o

ving ody nd poey s heology of he mute sgns seepng on thebody of odiny hngs. B hee ws no ph fom the shop of theme ss nd he poety of omoded efns o he poety of

the fe nd he hymn of he oeve bodyLitetue hd beome poweful mhne of selfneeion nd

sef-poetizion of ife onveing ny sp of eveydy ife nto sof stoy nd ny sign of hisoy into poetil eemen. This pots ofiete enhned he dem of new body th wold gve voe to

hs eppopton of the powe of ommon poety nd hstoywten on ny doo pnel o ny sly efin. But ths powe of the mutelete od no esut in· 'bngng bk hs lvng body The 'ving odyvoing the oeve hy hd o emn he uopi of ng. theimes of futuist poey nd the Soviet Revouton, he Rmudnpoe would tuned to the ide of new lfe whee t nd lfewould moe o ess dentl. Afe those dys, would ome bk tohe poety of he uiosiy shop, the poey of the ouoded Psin

pssges eeted by Agon n his Payan de Pas Benmn in uwod y to ewite the poem, o hve the Messh emege fom the

kingdom of he Deh of oumoded ommodtes Bu he poem of thefue epeened he sme ondon s he novel of ougeoislfe, nd he hymn of the people epeened the sme ontdiion she wok of pue ltetue. The lfe of iteue is he lfe of hs ontdon The 'il 'poit o 'soolo intepees o euewho feel hlenged y my nyss mgh eply ht he ontdon of

ltee goes bk o he od lson of mstkng he ntepetonof lfe fo ts tnsfomon

My pesenon hs been n tempt o qeson the opposion inoh wys Fis, I hve ed to sbstnie he ide th so-lled inte

petions e poi o the eten ht hey e eongtons ofhe visibiity of ommon wold. Seond, I woud sugges ht the ds

ouse ontstng nepetve hnge nd 'e hnge is isef pt ofthe sme hemeneut plo s the intepeton ht t hlenges Thenew egme of menng ndepnnng both leue nd sol senehs mde he vey senene ontstng 'hngng he wold nd 'ine

peting the wold ino n en The invesigon of his 'polis of

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ieatue ha muh moe tha a mate of wie may hep ondeand th ambgy and ome of i oneqene The poiiadmenon of ieate ha been ualy explaned hough oa

ene and poiia nteeaton By tg mate upde-downI have been unwing to aont fo poit and oia ene houghthe mee anfomaion of poeial aegoe My wih ha beenimpy o popoe a loe look at the inewinng

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CHAPTER ELVEThe Monumen and Is Confdences; or Deleuze

and Ars Capacy of �Ressance

Ar s readly ascbed a vrue of ressance In the word of opinon, thisasseron s deemed unproblemac This word readiy accepts tha artresists n diverse ways, which al converge n a unique power In one

aspec, the consistency of the work resists he wearing eec of tme; inanother, he act hat produced it resiss the deermination of he concept

Whaever resss boh time and the concept s aso presumed capable,as a mater of course, of resisting forms of power The of e free

and rebelious aris lends seH wel to lusrang the loc o the doxaAccordngly, he fortunes of he word 'ressance inhere in wo properes Firs, n s reserves of homonymy, whch makes it possible o createan anaogy beween he passve ressance of the stone and he acveopposon of men and second, in he positive cnnotaons hat theword has reained by conras o so many others tha have falen no

disuse or become suspect communiy, revo revouon, proetariat,casses emancipaon ec No onger s i seen as such a good hingo want o change he wrd and make more jus But hs s exacyhe pon, since the eca homonymy of the word resistance is alsoambvalen on he praccal evel: to resst is o adopt the posure of

someone who sands opposed to the order of things, but simultaneousyavoids he risk nvolved wh trying to overtu hat order And weknow n this day and age, tha he heroic posture f sang 'resistance

against he orrent of advertsing, communicational, and democracrheoric goes handnhand wth a wling deference to established formsof domination and expoitaon

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If w dismis th fl slfvds of opio i t vrthlsspossibl to stbish liks btw th id of tvty or domid 'rt d tht of spi vrtu of rsist? Wht oud b

md of th homoymy of th word 'rsst whh otis svrds i sgl word? I t, thr r two smigly otrdtorysss i whi rt s sd to rsst: rst t rsists s thig tht prsistsi its bg; d od popl who rfu to rm i thir stuto.Udr wht odtos s quvl btw ths two, smiglyotrdtory ss of 'rsist oivb? How th rsstof tht whh prsists itslf simutouy b powr of tht whihlvs itslf of tht whh itrvs to hg th vry sm ordr tht 

ds ts 'ossty? d whomvr h rd Nith ot but hr othr qustio bhd th quto ow w oiv ths?mly: wy ought w ov it? Why s thr d to thik of rt t o s powr of utoomy, of slfmtig d s powr ofdprtur d of sftrsformtio?

I would k to xmi this problmt kot o th bis of pssgborrowd from Gills Dlu. th hptr of Qu estce que piloiedvotd to rt w rd ths:

Th wtr ists gug mk it vibrt mbrs d rds it iordr to wrst th prpt from prptos, th t from tosth ssto from opiio i vw o hops of th sllmissgpopl . Ths i prisy, th tsk of l rt d om olours dsouds both musi d pitg smilrly xtrt w hrmo, wpsti or mlod dsps d w rhythmi rtrs tht rsthm up to th rths sog d th ry of m d wom: tht whh ostuts to hlth, bomg visu d soorous blo Amoumt is ot th ommmoro or th lbrto, of somthgtht hs hppd; istd it od to th r of th futur thprsistt stos mbodyig vt: th ostty rwdsurig of m d wom thir rtd prottos thir osttly rsumd strugg. W this l v bus surg t d rvoluos do ot survv thir vitory? But th uss of rvouo rsids oly i tslf, prisy i th vbrtios mbrsd opigs t vs to m d wom t th momt of its mgd tht omposs i itslf moumt i th ostt pross ofbomig lik thos tumuli to whi h w trvlr dds sto•

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THE MONUMENT AND IT CONFIDENCE

There s no menon of the wor resisance n this passage it oesstrve har o resolve he probem that ths wor harbors: how o transform the analogy beween forms of resstance no a ynamc? the

rs place the tex presens s wih an analogy between two processes:people sffer, proes, gh an embrace for an insan, before solarysering re-assers sef the arts wiss an embraces langage, or tearsplasc or msical percepts from sonoros an optical percepons, norer o rase hem o the cres of peoples. Ts resens an analogybeween he wo processes, bt here is seemngly a r o overcomeThe ars works in vew of an en hat this work cannot acheve bysef: he or she works n vew of a stil-mssng peope. in the

secon pace ths work iself presene as a bring of he gap thaseparates he arisc embrace om he revoltionary embrace Vbratons an embraces asme a consisen gre n the soly of themonment. An he solity of he monment s simlaneosy aangage the movement of a transmission: the monment cones ohe ear of the fre the persistent sensatons tha emboy serngan strgge. These sensaons are transforme into vbraons an therevoltionary embrace, wch conribte their sone to he monmen

inbecomngA monmen whch speaks o he ftre an a fre hat has ears

tha is realy a ltte oo mch for ears so accsome to hearng tha hereecon of meaphor s he alpha an omega of Deean thoghWel, to all appearances meaphor reigns in ts passage an oes so inits fl fncon: here meaphor is not a simpe oament of langage,b instea as ts eymology nicaes a passage or a transport orer o go from he vibraon exrace by he arts o the revoonary

vibraion i is necessary o have a monment tha makes a angagearesse o the fre from bocks of vibraons. s passage self mstconense severa passages, several concepa leaps to effecae theeap from the arstic orsion of sensaons to the strgge of men it hasto ensre an eqvalence beween he ynamc o he vibraon anthe stac of the monment. is necessary ha n the immobiity o themonmen, he vibraion appeals o another speaks to another. t hsseech tsef is twofol: i s he ransmission of the eort, or of heressance, of peope, an the transmsson of what resiss hmanty, the ransmsson of he forces of chaos, the forces haesse on t anincessantly re-capre by i Chaos has o become a ressant form; the

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DSENU

form must again become a resisant chaos. The monumen must becomethe revolution and he revouon agan become a monumen.

Through he pay of meaphor, the gap beween he presen of he

work and the fuure of he people us ou to be a constituve ink. hearwork not only 'in vew of a peope This peope par of he verycondon of arts 'resistance, tha is to say he union of contraries whchdenes it at once as an embrace of ghers se in a monumen and as amonumen n a process of becoming and strugge The resistance of thework s not arts way of rescuing polics; it is not arts way of imiang or

ancipang poitics - is propery speaking her identiy. policsSuch s the fundamental hesis that Deeuze puts forward n hs passage

For tis o be he se, however, there must be an deny beween twolanguages of the monumen: he human language of those monumensabou whch Schiler said tha hey have the abilty o transm to peopleof the future the intac grandeur of ongvanshed free ciies andhe nhuman anguage of romanc sones whose silen speech belies hechatering and aaion of men.

art s to be art, mus be poitics t s o be poitics, he monumenmus speak wiceover: as a rsum of human eor and as a rsum of

he power of the inhuman separating the human from itsef I woud likeo examine this arguments condtions of possbly Such an investigaon seems o me o nvolve two tings on te one hand, I would ike oshow hat Deeuzes hesis s not the singuar invenon of one, or two,authors bu insead the parcular form of a more oginal kno betweenan idea of ar, an idea of he sensbe and an dea of the human futureon he oher hand, I woud lke to analyse the parcuar pace ha itoccupies n the eld of tensons dened by tis orna knot

The work and he sensbe elemen o om he sensible n henform form of the vibraon and he embrace the insananeousness ofhe vibraon or of the embrace as he persisten monument of ; assnguar as they appear in hs text, such equivaences are not Deeuzesown invention They were already long established. Moreover, thsprovenance sef s spl no two There s the mos mmediae iaon:he vibraon and the embrace come direcy from he pages that Proustdevotes o the musc of Vneul, and he heme of the sensibe ceavedfrom he sensibe forms te core thess of Temp etouv Bu thisrousan hesis and descrption are themseves possble ony on he basisof a much more general form of vsbiity and intelibiiy of aesthec

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experence, form th denes n enre regme of he denconof r.

The de of sensble elemet to om he sensible, of dssensual

sensible elemen, is specic chrcersc of the hinking mplied by hemode regime of rt, which I hve proposed to c the 'eshetic regimeof r. Wh n fc chrcezes hs regime is the ide of spec formof sensory experience, dsconneced om the norml forms of sensoryexperience When eleuze speks to us of the work th ers he perceptom percepion nd he ec from ffecion, he is expressing, in hisown prulr wy, the oginl formul of estheic dscourse, h is,ht ecpsulted by he Knti nlyc of he beuful: eshetic

experience is of sensory weve (un sensble ht is self doublydsconneced. is dsconnected wh respec to he lw of undersnding, which suordnessensory perception to s own cegories, ndlso with respec to he lw of desre, which ubordines our ffeconso the serch for good. The form pprehended by eshetic judgemens neiher th of n objec of knowledge nor th of n objec of desre.I is his nether no ht denes the expeece of he beuiful s theexperience of knd of resisnce. The beutiful i th whch ress boh

conceptul determinon nd the lure of consumble goods.This is the initil formul of eshetic dsensus or estan which, in

Kns ime sepred out the esheic reme of r om its represenve reme. This dssensus cme bou beuse he clssicl regime, therepresentve reme of r, ws goveed precsely by he concordncebetween form of intellectul deermnon nd form of sensorypproprition. one respec, rt ws dened s e work of form, sht which imposes its lw on mter. nother, he rules of r, s

dened by the subjugon of mer to form, were deemed to correspond o the lws of sensory nture. The plesure experenced ws kens vercon of the deqution of he rule. Arsoteln mimess wsextly ht: eement beween producve nure - poes nd recepve nture n athes The gurnee of hreewy greementws clled humn nture.

'Reisnce, or 'dssensus, whose rs formul i given by Kn, s brek wih hs hreewy greement, nd herefore brek with thnture. Aesheic experience ws wh henceforh ly beeen nurend humny, whch s lso to sy beween wo nures or wo humnties e whole prolem will hen be to know how to determine hs

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relation wihout relation in the nae of whih nature and whh

huanty? his is the precise proble that runs through all Deleuzestets on ar: o one huanity to another, the pah an only be forged

by nuanity But before oing to this pont, we ust eaine oneor two other onsequenes of he dissensus onstituve of he aesthe

regie of art he rst onsequene is sply put: f he beautiful is

onept-less, and f all ar is the ipleentation of ideas that ransfora atter, it follows that he beautiful and ar sand in a dsjunve

relaon to one another he ends that ar sets self stand n ontradion

to the nality without end that araerizes the eperiene of he

beauful o oss the gulf, a spec power required For Kant this

power is that of he genus, not one who is observant of the rules ofnature, bu nature self n its produve power. But he genus ust,for this, share n the unonsious of nature he genius annot know helaw under whih he or she operates. If the aeshet epeene ofthe beauiful is to be denal to the eperene of ar, then art ust be

arked by a double differene: t ust be the anifesaon of a thoughttat s unaware of iself in a sensible eleent hat is to o the ordinary

condtions of sensory eperiene.

No doubt this dsjuncton reeved its earest eperiene in Hegelianaesthetis he anHegelian phoba haratezing Deleuzes thought is

well known However, in her own way, he Deleuzian onceps ofvbration, oposon and lne of ight are her to the great Hegelianteary of syboli ar, lassal art and roanti ar Hegel is the onewho ed the paradoal forula of he artwork under he aestheti

ree of ar: he work s the aterial inspon of houghts differeneto tself hs bens wih the sublie vbration of thought seeking vanlyts sojou n he stones o he pyrad; it continues wh the lassebrae of atter by a thought that only anages to aoplsh tself at

he pre of s own weakness indeed, t is beause Greek religon isdevod of nterorty hat t an deally be epressed in the perfeon of

he satue of God; nally, it is the lne of ight of he Gothi spre strving

for an naessible heaven and hereby announing he end where,hought havng nally reahed is hoe, ar wll have eased to be a ste

of hought o say that ar resists hus eans hat it s a perpetual gaeof hde-andseek between he power of sensible anifestaon of works

and ther power o signiation Now, ths gae of ideandseek

between hought and art has a paradoal consequene: art is ar, hat

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THE MONUMENT AND IT CONFIDENCE

s i resis in i nare a art nsofar as i no the prodct of a omake ar insofar as is somethn oher than ar

Hee's ork his oher thn' is caled the sp of a peope he

Greek sae s art for s inasmch as as somethn ese for s spor the representaon of he Gods of he ciy the dcor of is insitonsand is fees Deeze's ork is caled medcine'; Deeze es inhs relaton a phrase om Le Clo one day e perhaps come okno tha as no ar b merely medicne'

ese o formas are no opposed n heir prinpe he Greek staeis he health of a people and Deeuzan medcne is like Nezsche's thaof a cvzaion. The derence is ha he represenave of he heath of

the Greek peope is caed Apoo he he Delezan door assmeshe re of Donysus Apoo and Donysus are no simpy o oNiezsches personae �iezsche as abe o se heir bpoariy o theoze traedy i i becase hs bipolary already srctred he aesthecreme of art marks the dobe ay n ich he ap beeen ar andisef is expressed he ension of thoh and the nthoh hichdenes Apoo emblemazes the momen hen the nion o hohand he nhoh become xed in a harmonios re hi s he

re of a hmany n hch clre s no dsnshed from nareof a peope hose ods are no separae om he lfe of he cy Dionyss he ure of he dark baond h reis hoh of he senof p nare appin ih the eavae of cre. Ar's ressance'is in fac he ension of conraries the nermnabe ension beteenApolo and Dionyss beeen he happy re of an annled disenssdissimaed in he anhropomorphc ure of he beatf od madeof sone and re-opened dissenss exacerbaed by Donysiac fry or compain in Achab's l o notnness or Bareby's nohines of hese o tnesses of primary nare of nhman' nare

is is the pon a hch artsc dissensaiy' es in h he hemeof the peope o come o nderstand kno e ms re o thah fonds the mode aeshetc reme of ar te rpre of aeemenbeeen the res of art and the las of sensibiliy hich dsinshedthe assca representave order. his order active form as mposedon passve maer via the rules of ar. And the peasre experienced asaken as vericaion tha the rle of arsc poes corresponded o helas of sensibiliy as aken as vericaon by hose hose sensescold be aken as verdcal inesses men of tase men of a rened

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naure as distinc om those of an uncutured naure. That is to saythe representave order nvolved a twofod herarchy he commandment of form over mater ad a disncon between coarse sensble

nature and a rened sensible nature 'The man of tase said Volaire'has dieren eyes deren ears a deren sense of tact o hat of thecommon man.

The aeshec revouon revokes that wofod herarchy. Aeshecexperence suspends the commandment of form over maer of acveundersandng over passve sensbility. Aesthec 'dssensualy hen sno smply he splitng of the old human 'nature. s aso a revocatonof he type of 'humany hat impled a humanity strucured by he

dsnon between the men of coarse senses and those of rened senseshe men of acve intelligence and those of passve sensbility. We ndhis already encapsulated in aragraph 60 of he Kik der Ueika,whi denes aeshec unversay as he mediator of a new senmentof humany as he principle of a form of 'communcaon hat exceedsthe opposition beween he renemen of he cultivated asses and thesimpe naure o he uncuured asses. Behnd Deeuzes 'monumenwhch speaks o he future we have to hear he pmary music of hat

Kantian communicaon. Furhermore we ought to recal ha heKritik de Urteika s conemporary wh the French Revolution. One

author drew lhe consequences of that contemporaneousness In hisUber die sthetche Eiehung des Menschen, Sller isolates the politcalsgnicaon of aeshec 'resstance or 'dssensus. Aesthec free paynvolves the abolition of he oppostion between form and materbetween acvty and passvity. Ths is aso the abolition between a fullhumanty and a sub-humany. Aesthec free lay and he universaliyof he judgement of ase dene a new kind of libery and of equalityderen from hose tha the revoluonary goveen had ried ompose under the form of the aw a kind of libery and equality thawas no onger absrac but sensbe. Aesthec experience is ha of anunprecedened sensorium in whch he hierarches are abolished hatstrucured sensory experence. Ths is why it bears wihn he promiseof a new ar of livng of indivduals and the communiy he promise ofa new humaniy.

So the resisance of ar dened a specic 'polics whose aim it wastha it s beter suited than politics proper to promoe a new humancommuny unied no onger by the absract forms of the aw bu by he

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bonds of lived experience. It thereby bears wihin i he promse of a

people o come whose lerty and equaly are eectve and ived andnot smpy represened. Bu ths promise marked by he paradox of

'arsc resstance Ar promises a peope n two contradcory ways: tdoes so insofar as is art and insofar as t is not art.

one respect, promses by ue of the resnwhi consutes i,owing to its dsance with regard to the other forms of sensbe experience.

he feenh eer of ber die estheche Eeihung de Menschen, righafer having assured us tha aeshetc free pay is founding of a new art

of lvng Schler pus us in manaon in ont of a Greek satue ownas he Juno Ludoi e Goddess, he says, s osed in on herself, de,

free of all conce and of all end. he neher commands nor resistsanything. We undersand tha the Goddess 'absence of resstacedenes the resstance of the satue, is exteory wih respect o henormal forms of sensory experience. Because she does not want anyhng, ecause she exeor to the world of thought and the wil whi

commands, because she is, in a nutsel, inhuman, he saue can sad

to be free and o pre-gure a humanity hat is smilarly delivered omoppressive wil. Because she is sient, because she does no speak o us

and is no ineresed n our humany, the staue can 'conde to he earsof the future the promise of a new humaniy The paradox of resistance

withou ressance is hus manfes in al is purty. e resistance of the

artwork, represeing the goddess who does no ress, calls forh apeope o come. But cals ths people forth o he very extent tha persiss in its distance, in ts remoeness from all human wil. e stauesresisance promises a fuure to people who, ke her, cease ressng, ceaseto translae ther sufferng and ther compans nto sruggle.

However, Schiler, in an mmedae reversal of perspective, also presentshe paradox in an inverse fo art bears a promse to the very extenhat t is the resu of somehing which was no art for those who made

i. Wha makes he resisant lierty of he stone satue s hat is theexpression of a cerain lierty or in Deeuzan erms, of a certain healhe satues self-sufcien liberty s tha of the people who is expressed

n t. Now, a 'free peope, n this view of thngs, s a people tha does noexpeence art as a separae reay, who has no lived n a me whencollective expeence is separaed into disnct forms caled art, politcs or

religion. What the satue promises then, is a future in which, once agan,

the forms of art wl no longer be dsingushed om he forms of poics,

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nor rom the orms o common experence and belie. Arts 'resitancepromses a people insoar as t promises it own abolition, the aolon oi dance or nhumanity. Ar hus takes on as ts goal ts own suppres

son, the transormaon o its orm nto he orms o a common sensoryworld. From the me o the French Revouon to he me o he SovetRevolution, the aesthetic revouo sgied hs se-realizaon andhs selsuppresson o ar in he consrucion o a new lie n whch ar,polics, economy or ulture woud dissove into one and the same ormo collecve e.

We ow hat ar dd undergo a orm o selsuppresion in theconstrucon o he community, but n a way hat wa totaly derent

to how t had been conceived. In the rst place, it ws swlowed upy a Soviet regime that was nterested soely n makng arsts into heconstrucor o le orm and hat oy wanted arsts who lustrated own way o construcing the new le. In the second, the project o anar that shapes the orms o day ie was accomplished roncally commodty aesthezation and the daly lie o captaism. Ths twood

desny, rac and comc, o he projec o making ar ie gave se, byway o reacion, to he other great orm o aethec metaoics: he

iea o an ar that accomanes the reistance o the domnated andpromises a libery and an equaity to come to the very exent that tarms ts abolute resistance to engaging n any compromse wh hetasks o polica mlantism or o the aesthecizaion o orms o daiylie. This summed up by Adoos expresson: ars soia uncion isnot to have one. On this view, ar does not resist purey by ensung itsdstance. resst but ts coure sel shows itel to e untenabe,because t occues he ste o an impassable conradicon. For Adoo,he solitude o art does not cease to present the contradicon betweents autonomous appearance and he reaity o he diviion o abour,ymozed by the amous episode rom he Odyss n which, tied to hismast, Uysse mastery s separated om the work o he salors, herears overed, and the song o he sren. To denounce the capalistdvision o labour and he commodity embelisment more eecivey,Snbergs musc must be even more mechancal, even moreihuman han he Fordist assembly ie. But it nhumaty n its tumake he stain o the repressed appear, the capitaist searaon oabour and enjoyment. s by endesy reenacing he inumaniyo he human and the humanty o the inuman hat the resistance o

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THE MONUMENT AND CONFDENCE

the work upholds he aesthetc promie of a reconed fe. But he priceit pays for dong so is to defer ndenely, o refuse al reconclaon asa simuarum

The 'ressance of art thus appears as a doube-edged paradox. Tomanain he promse of a new people, t mut eher suppress sef, ordefer idenely the comng of hs peope The dynamic of ar for thelast wo cenuries is perhaps he dynamc generaed by this ensionbeween the two poes of arts selfsuppression and he indenie deferral of he people ha i calls forth This paradox of he polics of art refersack to he very paradox of s deion n the aesthetic regime of art, inwhich he 'hings called art are no longer dened, a efore, y he rues

of a prace ey are dened by ther beongng o a specc ensoryexpeence tha of a ensie weave suracted om he ordinary formsof senory experence · Bu this difference i the form of expeencecanno be a derence the very nature of its products The aesheticsensorum hat renders the produs of art vsble as the produc of artdoes not hereby endow hem with any matera, or ensory, quality thaelongs specaly to them Arts dierence only exss nsoar as t iconstructed case by cae, sep by step, in he gular sraees of arts

e artst must, inenonaly, make a work capable of emancpangitsef as power of he impersonal and of the nhuman The ars hasto do so a he rk that at any tage this mperonaliy mgh becomeconfused with anoher, with prose or the ichs of the word, omwhch no rea barrer separaes Aeshetic difference s also engenderedunder the form of an as The ook, says Proust, mus e wren as tis made of the very language of sensation The work s he exendedmeaphor of he consten derence whch makes it nto oh he

presen of art and the fuure of a peopeIt is presely hs meancholic destiny of art and s poltics tha Deleuze

rejected he rst pace eeuze endeavoured o force he dilemmawhich enoses art beween the selfsuppreson of resisance and hemantanig of a resstance tha defers the peope o come ndeney Hesrived o make the vration of a a [a muscal noe A], or the embrace ofwo plasc forms, comprse he reitance of a monument And he srivedto have the monument speak to the fuure, to have a noe of Berg, theboxng ring of a acon canvass or the story of metamorphosis told by aKaa nove produce not smpy the promise of a people bu s realy anew way of peopling the earth Th forcng of the political demma o

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aesthec presupposes another orcng, ths me n the very denition the prcess o ar Fr Deleuze, art canno e conned t the regme he as ad metaphor: ts seo status must aver a feren in te real

tsel e nhuman tha separates i om tel mus eal e inhumanFrom thi pn o view, here s nohing more ican han hsrelatin wth rust Frm Prus, Deleuze rw the viraon andhe emrace whch ates to the conontation eween wo orders, ha the sensile organzed y the undertanding, ad hat o the sensen s ruth Bu in Prusts work, hs dierence s, the ast nsance,he wrk metaphor I i the nended meaphr o he wer whichates he involunary rrupn o he truth, tha s whch ves it its

literary reaity Deeuze, r hi par, reuse t accep ta, in he astnstance, meaphor can e he ruh o its truh He wans t e a realmeamohs: iterature mus produce not a meaphr ut a meamrphss The sensle hat t produces must as deren as that wich

organizes our daily experience as the cockroa in Gregire Samsaroom is rom the good on and hnes empoyee Gregore Samsa eSchumanan melody mus e dened wih the song o the earh Achamu e the wes pmary naure and Barey must e a Christ,

he medatr eween tw radically separae rders For ths, the arsthimsel mus have passed over to he oher ide, must have lived

through somehng ha s to srng, unreahale, an experience primary nature, he nhuman naure rm wh he reu whreddened eyes, an expeence hat leaves s marks in his esh Onlyhen is possle o go eyond the Kantian he Prousan meaphror he Adoan conradicon But remain t e een wha the prcet pay is or hat exces The price o pay is literally the reintroducion a knd o ranscendence in he hought o immanence

These reddened eyes, this reaon wth somehing o strong,

somehng unreaheale, remnds us n eec o anher phiophicaleerience o an encunter etween two rders They remind us o theKanan dramaturgy o the experience o the sulime hat conronts hesense rder wt he supraense For Deeuze, the power (pusan) artc dissensu cannot e expressed n the simpe gap eween poiesand athes mu e he power communcated y he excesive power

an athesis whch s o say, n essence, the power o an onoogica

dierence etween two orders realiy The arist is one who nds imor herse exposed to he excess o the pwer o he pure ense, o

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THE MONUMENT AND CONFIDENCE

inhuman naure And he work tha tear he percep rom percepon ishe eec o an exposure o tis excess o power To conceptualize hingsn ths way voves reprising om he Kantian heory o he sulme

he idea o a conronation between two orders The derence is thawh Kant he imanaons encounter with an excessve sensoryexperence nduces the mnd o ecome cognzant o the superior powero reason and its suprasensie voon th Deeuze however thesuprasensile eement encountered in he expeence o the subime isnot he neigbe; i is he pure sensile the inhuman power o ie.Immanence mus be tued ino a orm o ranscendence. Moreoverwih Kant he exeence o he sulime nduced us o leave the domain

o ar and he aeseic sgnaled he passage om he aeshetic to hemoral sphere Wh Deeuze however his dierence etwee aesheticautonomy and moral aonomy s reinvested wtin he very pracce oart and he aeshec experence. is he transcripon o the experence o e suprasensile sense the maniesaon o a trancendenceo Lie whch is he Deeuzan name or Beng is the ransiption oan experience o the heteronomy o Lie wh respec to the human

To wha exent hen can his heteronomous power o Lie become the

power o a huma colecve in struggle? To put this quesion seems ome useu o compare Deleuzes ormuaon wih tha o a philosophercontemporary o who drew dametcaly opposite consequencesrom he same premses JeanFran�ois Lyoard. Lyotard in ac tuedhe Kanan suime nto he prncipe o mode ar Mode ar in sentirey s or , is he isipon o he sulime dsaccord eweenthe mnd and a sensile power in excess a power hat hrows he mindinto conuson. And agan Lyoard cals his power o the suprasensie

sensie hat o the Ihuman He proceeds thereore simay o Deeuzey inverng he Kanan anaysis. Like Deleuze he transormed a gap

beween two spheres nto an exeence o the senses ranscendencewith respec o isel. And like Deeuze he tued the experence o hstranscendence ino he very princile o arstic pracice. But n so donghe drew an enrely oppose conusion. Deleuze and Guata wrote to conrast ths excess o power o he sensory excepon with heparanoac Oedpal reign o he aher ad he law and o esabish hepnciple o a ate commuiy Lyoard drew he nverse conusonFor he sho o he surasensbe sensbe not e deerrtog

orce that makes the monument a cal o he aea emrace o he

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uture s he ore hat separates he mind om tse, tha testies to pmary and rremediabe alienaon in the power o the Oher ThisOther ths akes he name o he Freudan Thng beore i akes he

name o the Law Ar thus beomes a esmony to ths immemoraldependene o he Spirit as regards the Other Fratea utopia beomesa mere avatar o the dream o emanpaon hat was bo in the meso the Enlghtenmen the dream o a mnd tha is maser o itse andits wod ee o he power o he Oher For Lyoard this dream o ahumaniy hat is maser o isel is no ony naive, it is rmnal Theaomplismen o ths dream he laims, results in he Nazi genodeHe tu the exterminaon o Europes ews no the exterminaton o

the very people who sand o esy o he dependene o he mnd withrespe o he law o he Other Arts ressane thus onsists in its provd

ng a twood testimony: a emony o the mpassable aienaon o thehuman and one o the aasrophe tha ases om msreg hat

aenaon The onsequenes hat Lyotard dws om  reintereaono the subime gap are hus enirey opposite o those o the Deleuanpeope to ome They are assuredly ess appealng I ear, however, hatthey are more ogal hat the ransendene nstituted a he hear o

Immanene, n a, sgnies the submssion o ar o a aw o heeronomy whh undermines every orm o transmisson o the vibration o

olor and o the embrae o orms o the vbraons and o the embraeso a rate humaniy

is perhaps neessary o hoose he rs pae, he sensibe dier

ene whih instes ar an be aken as a dierene without onoogialonsseny, a derene remade ea time in the singuar work ompersonalization spe o a pariuar ars proedure hs ase,

hen he ars appropation o he inhuman remans he work omeaphor And i s preisely as a orm o preariousness hat hs ato appropriaon beomes lnked o the prearous and ever-hreaenedwork o polia nvention as t srves o separae its subes and isenes om the normaity o soia groups and their onls o interest he seond plae, poeti derene an be ransormed nto an onologial derene But hs realzation amouns to ying the speitieso politial or ars nvenion o one and he same suprasensble sensibe experene The politia beomng o ar, hen, beomes he ethal

onusion in whh n the name o their unon art and polis bothvansh And what oaly arises rom hs onusion is no a humany

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TE MONUMENT AND CONDENCE

rendered rateal through the experiene o the human s a

humanty reerred to the vanty o any knd o rateal dream

The theme o the resistane o art thereore anything ut an

amguity o language om whih one ould ree onese y reegangarts onssteny and poltal protest eah to her own sde atuallydesiates the ntimate and paradoal lnk etween an idea o art andan dea o polts has ived or two enturies rom the very tenson

by whh t s at one itse and beyond itsel, and by whih t promises auture destined to reman unaomplished The probem is thereore notto set ea ak in ts own pae, ut to mantan the very tension bywhih a polts o art and a poets o politis tend towards eah other

but annot meet up wthout suppressing themselves To maintan thstenson today, means opposng the ethal onuson whh tends to emposed n the name o resstane, under the name o resstane emovement rom the monument to the embrae and om the emrae to

the monument an only ever be aompshed at the pe o anelngout ths tenson To prevent the resistane o art om ading into itsontrary t must be uphed as the unresoved tenson between two

resistanes

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CHAPTER THIRTEENThe Ethca Turn of Aesthetcs and Politics

order o nderand exacy what is a stake n he ehica t tha impacting aeshetcs and potics today we mst precisey dene wha meant y he word ehics Ethics s no dot a fashionae word B is ofen aken for a simpe more ephonios transaion of he od wordmoras' is vewed as a genera nstance of normaviy enaing one tojdge the vaidty of practices and dscorses operaive n disnct spheres

of jdgement and acton. Understood in ths way the ethcal t woldmean tha today here s an increasing tendency o sm potcs andar to moral jdgemens aot the vaidiy of heir prnpes and theconseqences of their pracces. No a few peope odly rejoce aotsch a re to ethcal vales

I do not eieve tha there s mch case for rejocing ecase I do noteieve tha this is actaly wha is happening. he regn of ehics is nothe regn of moral jdgemens over he operaions of ar or of poitcal

acon. On he contrary t sies the constition of an ndisnct sphere which no only s he specity of poiial and arstc practces dssolved t so aso is hat wh formed he very core of old moraiy:he disticon etween fac and aw eween wha is and what ogh oe. Ehics amonts to he dssolton of norm nto fact: in other wordsthe sbsmpion of al forms of discore and pracce eneath the sameindistinct pont of vew. Before sgnifying a norm or moraliy he wordethos sies wo hings oth the dweling and the way of eng or

fesye hat corresponds o this dwelng. Ehic hen s the kind ofg n which an identty is esaished eween an envronment away of eing and a principle o actio The conemporary ehcal is

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TE ETICAL TURN OF AETETIC AND LITIC

the spe onjunton of these wo phenoena On the one hand,

the insane of judgeent whih evaluaes and deides, nds isefhuled y the opellng powe of the law On he othe, the adialiy

of his aw, whh leaves no ateaive, equates o he siple onstaino an ode of thngs The gowing ndstnton etween fa andaw gives way o an unpeedented daaugy of innite ev, justie

and epaaiono ls depting the avaas of juse in a oal ouny, oth

eeased n 2002 an hep us to udesand ths paadox e st isDogvilley Las von e The l tells us he stoy of Gae, he foeignewho, in ode to e aeped y he tzens of his sall own, paes

hesef n the see, suting heelf at st to exploaion, followedy peseuon when she es to esape the Ths soy ansposesBehs Die heilige Johaa de Schlachthfe a pay n whih Sant Joan ispoayed as one who wanted to nstil Chisa oality in the aptais

junge1 But he tanspostion s a good illusaon of the gap eweenthe wo eas e seting of the Behian fae was suh hat al noions

wee vde in two ued out hat Chsan oality was neffeive

in the ght against he volene of the eonoi ode It had hus to

e tansfoed into a iant oalty hat ook as iteio theneessiies of the stuggle aganst oppession The ghs of the oppessed

wee hus hed up against he igh ha was paty o oppesson and

defended y stikeusing polieen The opposon eween twotypes of vioene was theefoe aso ha etween wo sos of oals

and of ightsThis dividng of vioene, oaity and ight has a nae is aled

polits. Polits is no, as is often said, the opposite of oals s s

divding Beh wote his pay aout Saint Joan as a fae aout polio deonsate he ipossility of ediaing eween these two sots ofghts and hese wo types of vioene. The evi hat Gae enountes inDogvil y onas, efes to no ohe ause u itself Gae no ongeepesens the good sou ysied y he oane of he auses o evl

She s eely he stange, he 'exuded who wans to e aditted inothe ounity, whi ngs he o sujugaion efoe expelng heThis tale of sueing and disillusionent does not ste o any syste

of doinaion tha ight e undestood and aolished It s ased upona fo of evl tha is the ause and effet of ts own epoduion Ths s

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DIENU

why the ony tng retriuon againt that community can e its radcaannihlaion, cared out y a Lord and Father who is none other hanthe king o thugs The Brechan lesson was: Ony voence helps where

vioence regs. The ransormed ormua appropriate to our consensualand humantaan mes is: 'Only evl repays evl. Let us translate t intothe anguage o George W. Bush: innite usce s the only suaeusce or the ght aganst the axis o evil.

The eresson 'innite ustice rased he haes o many people andit was deemed preerale to have it prompty wthdrawn rom rculaion.It was said to have een adly osen. But perhaps the choce was onlytoo tting all likeihood, it s or his same reasn that the moraity

porrayed in Doge caused such a scandal. The ury at he annes FilmFestiva reproaed t or ts la o humansm, a la hat douessresdes i he dea hat where here s nusce, usce can e enorcedA humanst con, n hs sense, would have to e a con hat elimnates su usce y eacig the very oppostion etween the ust andthe unust. Exacly hs proposa was made y the second m, lntEastwoods Mysc Rver n whi Jmmy commits a crme: he summaryexecution o his ormer mate ave, whom he thinks guity o murdering

hs daughter; this has gone unpunished and remans he shared seet othe guity party and his accomplice, he policeman Sean. Why? Because

the gult hat Jimmy and Sean share exceeds anyhng hat coud eudged in a court o law. For it was they who, when they were chldren,were responsle or dragging ave o aong on her reckless streetgames is ecause o them that ave was hauled away y men osngas police locked u and raped aves trauma hen made hm a proemadu whose aerrant ehavour singled hm out as the deal culprt orthe young grs murder

Dogve s a transposon o a theatrical and polical ae Mystc Riveris a ransormation o a cinematographic and moral ale, the scenaro which had een depced noay in lms y Ared Htco and FrtzLang: that o the asey accused.2 In this scenario, tru is put to workaganst he alile usice o courrooms and puic opnion, and alwaysends up nning out, somemes at the cost o conronng another ormo ate. But today, evl, wh s nnocent and guity paes, has eentued nto he trauma which knows o neher nnocence nor guit,whch lies n a zone o ndisncon etween gult and innocence,etween psycic disturance and soal unrest is wthin su traumac

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TE ETHICAL RN OF AETHETIC D POTIC

vioence tha Jmmy kis ave who hmse the vctm of a raumaresultng from a rape whose perperaors were probaby also victms ofsome oher trama However ot ony is a scenario of disurbance ad

sickness use o replace oe of jusce; the sickness tsef has chaged ismeaning The new psychoanalyical ction stands n stark conrat ohe oe ha Hchcock and Lag drew o n he 1940s, n which reactvatig a ured childhood memory worked o save he vioen or hesick3 Chdhood rauma has become the rauma of being o hesmpe misforune hat befalls every human eg for being an amalbo oo early This misforune from whch oody can escape dsmsses the very oon tha jutice coud be deat with y eforcg

jstice t does not do away wih punhmet But t does eminaethe jusce of punishmet t reduces pushmet o the imperatvesof proecng he soal body, no wthou the usa few blundersnte justice the takes o its 'humanis shape as the ecessaryviolence requred o exorcse rama n order to maai the order ofhe communty

Many peope jump at denouncing the mpsc nature of he psychoanalyi cenaros n Holywood lms These scenaos, however, u

out to have adaped ther srcture and tonay raher fahfuly to theessons of eaed psyoanalyss From Langs and Htchcocks depctions of successful cres to Cn Eastwoos presenation of he buredsee and rreconlabe rauma, t easy to recognze the shift from theitrigue of Oedipal kowledge to the rreducbe ivison of knowlegead law symbolized by aother grea lterary gure namey the ragcheroe Antigone Uder Oedpus sig, rauma amouted o a forgotteeve tha cold e cured when he trauma was reactvated Whe

Angone comes o repace Oedips i Lacaa heorizaon, a new formof secret s estabhed, one tha i irreducble to ay savationa knowledge There is nether begnnng nor end to the trauma encapsuaed inAngone The ragedy bespeaks the dscoen of a cvzation n whchthe aws of social order are undermined by he very thigs tha supporthem: the power of liao, earh and nght

Antigone aid Lacan, no he herone of human rights eaed bymode demoac piety nstead, he s he terrors, he wiess of theee terror that underlies the socal order Terror s precsely he namehat trauma takes n poical maters and is one of he cachwords of ourme e word unquesoaly designaes a reaty of crime and horror

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that nobody can aord o ignore. But is also a erm hat hrows thngs

nto a state of indstncton. Terror desaes not ony the atacks in NewYork on 1 1 September 2001 or in Madd on 1 1 Mar 200, bu also the

strategy n whch these atacks are inscbed. Ltle by ltle however, heword 'error has aso ome to desgnate no ony the sho hese eventscaused n peoples mnds, bu also the fear that similar events might

recur, possbly eading o further acts of nconcevabe voence andthe siuaon characterzed by the management of such fears by staeapparatuses. To alk of a war against error s to connect the fo of

these attas to he intimae angst tha can inhab each one of us n thesame chain. War aganst terror and nne justice hen fal no a stae

of ndisincton, occasioned by a prevenative jusce whih atacksanythng ha sure or a eas key o tgger error aything hatthreaens he social bond hodng he community together. The ogcof hs form of justce s to stop only once he eror self has sopped, buthis is a error whch by denion never sops fo beings who mustendure the trauma of birh. At the same me herefore this s a kind of

jusce for whi no oher knd of jusce mgh serve   a norm - a kind of jusce that laces sef above the rue of law

Graces msfortunes and Daves execuon nicey ilusrae his ransformaon of he ntereative semes of our experience which I calthe ethcal u. The essential feature of this process s certanly not the

virtuous retu to the norms of morality s, on he conrary, hesuppresson of the dvison tha he very word moras used o impy

Moray mped the separation of aw and fact. By he same token itaso mpled the dvision of differen forms of morality and of ghts, hedivision beween ways of opposing ght o act. The supression of

his dvision has been ven a prveged name: it s caled consensusConsensus s also a cachword of our me. However here is a endency

o me its meaning Some reduce to a gobal agreement beweengoveen and oposion parties over key nationa nerests Others

see i more broady as a new syle of goveent tha ves proryo dscusson and negoaon in conct resoluon. Yet consensus meansmuh more than tha: roery understood, t denes a mode ofsymboic sructuraon of he communty ha evacuates the oliicalcore constituting t namey dssensus. A polilcommuny is n eect a

communiy hat s structuraly divded not beween divergent interes

grous and oinons but divided in relaon o sef A polcal eole

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THE ETHICAL TURN OF AETHETIC AND POLITIC

is never the same hng as he sum of a populaon is aways a form of

suppemenary symboaon in reaon to any countng of the populaon ad its pars And hs form of symbolaon is always a ltgious

oe The cassical form of pocal conict opposes several 'peopes none: the people nsibed in the esting forms of the aw and the cons

uo; the people embodied in the Sate; he one iored by his aw orwhose rght the Stae does no recoie and the one hat makes s

cams in he name of another right hat s yet to insibed n acsConsensus is the reducton of hese varous 'peoples no a sngle peopeidentica wt the count of a populaon and its pars, of the neress oa global communy and s pars

Insofar i strives o reduce the peope o e popuaon, consensus infact strives o reduce rght to fac incessantly works to l in al thesenervals beween rgh �nd fac hrough wich the ght and he peopeare dvided The pocal communy thus tends o be transormed nto

an ethical community, into a communty tha gathers togeher a singlepeople n whch everyone supposed to be couned Ony ths procedure of counting comes up agans hat problemac remander tha it

terms 'the exuded However, it s cal o noe tha hs erm sef s

not univocal The excuded can mean two very derent hings thepoca communty, the exuded s a conictua actor, an acor whonudes hmse as a supplementary pocal subjec, carrying a ght no

yet recognied or wiessng an njustice in the existing sate of rghBut he etcal communiy, ths supplement is no longer supposed toarse snce everyone nuded As a resu, there is no staus for heexcuded n he sructuraon of he communy On he one hand, heexuded s merey the one who accidenally fals ousde he grea equal

ity of all he si, he rearded or the forsaken o whom he communymus extend a hand n order o reesablish he 'soca bond On the

other, he excuded becomes he radical other, he one who s separaedfrom he communy for he mere fact of beng alien to , of not sharing

he deny hat bnds each to al and of threatening he community ineach of us The depoced naonal community, then, is se up jus

lke the smal socety in Dogville trough the dupcy hat a oncefosters socal servces n he community and nvolves he absouterejecton of the other

To ths new gure of the national communiy here corresponds a newinteational landscape, n wch ehcs establishes s re rs n he

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form of the humanitaran and hen in that of inne jusce agast the of evl accomplshes ths through a smlar process of ncreasingindisncon beween fact and rght On naonal stages, ths process

signes he dsappearance of the intervals beween rght and fact inwich dssensus and poltcal subjects were consitued On the inernaonal sage hs process ranslaes nto he dsappearance of ghtself s most vsble eressons being argeed assassinaon and thergh to intervene But his disappearance occurred by way of a deour,nvolvng he constution of a ght above all other rghts the absoluerght of the vctm e consution of ths rght iself rather sgnicantlynvolves overug the mea-juridcal foundaon or as were he

rgh of rgh namely human rghs Since the late twenet cenury,human rights have undergone a strange transformaon Long victm tothe Marst suspicon of formal ghts, hey were rejuvenated n he1980s by the dssident movements of Easte Europe A he onse ofhe 990s the Sovet system collapsed and his appeared o pave theway for a world n wh these rghs, as the osensble basis for newnaonal consensuses, could also serve as a bass for a new ineaonalorder The explosion o new ehc conicts and wars of relion of

course immediately beled this opmsc vson uman rghs, havngbeen the weapon of dssdents who used them o conras one peoplewith he people tha ther goveents professed o ncaate thenbecame the rghts of the victmized populations of new ethnc warsindviduals driven from their destroyed homes, raped women andmassacred men These rghs thus became spec to people who wereunable to exerse hem a resul, he following aleave arose:eher these human rghs no longer amount o anyhing or else theyare he absolute rghs of those wihout rghs, n oher words, rightsdemandng an equally absolue response, one beyond all formaljurdcal norms

·

e absolue right of those whout rights can of course be exercsedonly by another pary Ths transfer was at rs own as humanitaranright/nerference Then however, he humanitaran war against heoppressor of human rghs became an inne jusce to be weldedaganst he invsible and omnipresent enemy ta errorized hosedefenders of he absolute rgh of vctms on her own terrory Thaabsolute rght hen became identied wih the drec demand to protecthe securty of a facual communty s enabled humantarian war to

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e tued io an endless war on error: a war hat s no a war t

nsead a mechanism o nne protecion, a way o deaing with arauma eevaed to the satus o a civlzationa phenomenon

We are no onger, then, n the asscal ramework o the dscussionon means and ens This distincon collapses no he same state ondstincion as that etween ac and rgh, or cause and eec Wha oppose to the evl o terror is hen, eher a esser evi, the simpeconservaon o wha is or he wang o salvation to emerge out ohe very radicalzaon o catastrophe

This reversal in poitica hinking has taken wo maor orms tha havelodged themselves a the very core o philosophical tg: on the one

hand, ha o an armaon o he ghs o the Oher servng to providea phiosophia stcation or the rights o peace-keepng orces; andon the other tha o an armaon o a stae o excepon whch renderspoitics and ghts inoperative ut leaves open the hope tha some kindo messanc salvaon arise rom out o he dephs o despar ers position was wel captured y Lyoard in s essay The OthersRights Puished in 199 hs was prepared n response to a questionrased y Amnesy Inteational: wha happens to human ghs n the

conex o humanarian nervenon? Lyoard dened e othersrights n a way tha is reveaing o the meanng o ehcs and he ehcalu As he pu it, human rights canno e the rights o the human ashuman, the rights o the are human eng The core o hs argumen isnot ew ueled the successive cques o Burke, an Arendtey all argued hat the are, apoltica human has no rghts sincen order to have righs one needs o e other han a mere human

Ctzen is he hstoca name or his oer than human Histoally,the nary o he human and the cizen has inormed wo things: rs,he criqe o he duplctosness o hese righs, which are always

elsewhere than in her plae; an seond, he poical acion hat sesup deren orms o dissensus i the gap etween he human andthe citizen

Bu n these tmes o consensus and humantaran acion, this oherthan human ndergoes a radcal muation No longer does the cizencomplemen he human ut nsead the inhuman as hat whchseparates the human rom tse The decared nhumany o humanghs volaons are, or Lyotard, acualy the consequences o msreognzng anoher inhuman, we might say, a posive inhuman Here he

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'inhuman is the part of ouselves over which we have no contro, a partthat kes severa gure and severa name. may be chidhooddependency, the aw of he unconsiou or the reaton of obedience to

an aboute Oher The 'nhuman tha radcal dependency of hehuman on somehing absoutey other whi canno be matered The'right of the other, then, i he ght to bear wie o our ubjecton othe aw of he Other. The w o mater he unmasterable , accordingo Lyotard, where the volaton of h righ begin Tha i puotedly harboured by Enlightenment thinkers and i manfest in theRevoluton. Tha wha he Nazi genocde i uppsed to haveaccompihed by extemnatng he very peope whose voaion to

bear wines o the neceay dependency on he aw of he Oher. Andhat i puportedly aso at work today in soft fom in oete ofgeneralized conumpon and tansparency

So, there are wo feaure that characterize he ethica tu. The r a revesa o he ow of tme: the tme tued oward an end o beaccompshed - progress, emancipain or the Other - repaced by thatued oward the caasrophe behind us Bu t i ao a evelng ou ofhe very forms of that aasrophe. e exeminaion of European Jews,

hen, appea a the explict fom of a glob iuaton, aracterisic ofhe eveyday exstence of our demoaic and berl ive. Ths is whaAgamben formulae in saying hat the camp is the nomo of modey,t i t pace and t rule, a rue tha tef i dentca wh radica exception Agambens perpective is cetainy dieren om tha of LyoardAgamben doe not eabish any ght of the Oher On he contrary,he denounces he generaliaon of he stae of excepon and appeal toa sene of meanic waiing for vaion o emerge from he depthsof catatrophe Hi anayi however, sums up wel what I cl the 'ethcal u The sate of excepion a sate hat erase the differencebetween henmen and victim, incudng even tha between theextreme cimes of the Naz Sae and he ordna everyday ife of ourdemoaces. More horc han even the ga chamber, the tue hororof he camps, wrte Agamben, occurred durng he hours when nothingwa happening and the SS and he Jew of he Sondemmando payedfootbl together5 And every time we u on our televion e to wacha foobal match ths game i replayed All derences simpy dsappearn the aw of a globa siuaton As a resut, his uaton comes to appearas he accompishmen of an ontologica destiny hat evauaes he

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ossbily of olitical dissensus and he hoe of futre savaon, bar headvent of an imroabe ontological revouon

This tendency of derences in olitics and right o disaear in he

indisincness of ehics is aso denng of a ceran resent of the ars andof aesthec relecon Similar to he way in which he combnaonof consensus and nnite justice blos ou olics, ars and aeshetcreecon tend to redistrbute themselves between a vsion of ar whoseurose is o atend o he soal bond and anoher of ar as that whichnermnaby bears wness to caasrohe

The eative arrangemens wih whch ar nended o bear wnesso he conradicion of a word mared y oression some dedes

hence, today oint o a common ehcal beonng For instance, le uscomare two wors roduced 30 years aar hat elo he same ideaDurng he 1970s, before the end of he eam War, Chrs Brdencreated a wor ened the Othe Memorial dedcaed o the dead on heoher side, to the thosands of Vieamese vcms wih nether namenor monument On the bronze laes of hs monument, Burden inscribedetnamesesoundng names of other anonymous eole randomly

coed from he honeboo o give names o hese anonymous eole

2002, Chrisian Boans resened he nsalaon Le abonn dutlhone As menoned above, consisted of two large sets of shelvescontaning honeboos from around he word and two ong tables awhich vistors coud s down to consul hem at their lesure Todaysnsalatio s sll based on he same formal idea as yesterdays countermonument I s sl about anonymity, but it has a comeey dierenmode of maeral realzaon and oitica meaning Instead of erecngone monumen to counter another, we are resened wih a sace ha

couns as a mime of common sace And whereas yesterdays am wassimulaneousy o gve names and lives ba o hose who had beenderived of hem by Stae ower, todays anonymous masses are simy,

as he arts says, 'semens of humany, hose with whom we arebound ogeher in a arge communy

Boltanss instalaon, herefore, was a good way of encasulating hest of an exhbition that aimed o be an encyoaeda for a century ofcommon hstory a uning memory landscae hat stands in contrast tothe divsiveness of yesterdays instalaons. Le so many conemorarynsallations, Boltans made use of a rocedure hat, hree decadesearlier, had been he rovince of critica ar: the systematic nroducon

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of he objes and iages of he wold into he tele of at But theeaning of ths ixing ogehe has changed adially Ealie, odungan enoue between heeogeneos eleens would ai to ndeline

the onadions of a wold saped by eoation and o qestionats lae and nstitons wtin ha wold of onl Today, ispolaed hat hs sae gatheng is he osive oeation of an atesponsble fo he fnons of ahiving and beaing wness to aoon wold Ths gaheing, hen, is pat of an atde to at ha stape by he categoies of onsensus: esoe ost eaning to aoon wold o epai the aks n the soia bond Ths ai ay bediey exessed, in he ogae of eaona a, fo exaple,

whose essena ai is o eate ounity saons tha foste hedeveloent of new fos of soa bond even oe eviden in heway that exay he sae as poedues have hanged in eanig,even when used by the sae ndvida asts as in JeanLu Godadsuse of olage, a enique obinig heeogeneous eleents hatapeas epeaedy houghou hs aee as a deto he 1 90s,howeve, he did hs in he fo of a ash of onaes, noably thatbetween he wold of high uue and the wold of he oodity:

Fitz Langs aon of a lng of The Ody and he bual cynics ofis podue n Mp; lie Faues Hi of Art and he adveseentfo Scandale osets in Pierrot le fou; he pety aluaions of the osueNana and the eas of Deyes Joan of Arc in vre a e. hs s of the980s, Godad apaeny eained faithfu to olage as a icpe foinking heteogeneous eleens But he fo of the olage hanges:what was one a lash of iages beoes a fusion And wha tha fusionof ages siulaneousy atess is he eality of an autonoous wodof iages and is ouniybuildng owe Fo Paion o loge de!amour o fo Alemagne anne 9 neufro to is Htoire du nmathe nfoeseeabe enoune of inea shos wth the aings of theiaginay se, of he iages of deah aps and liteay exs takenagains the expi eaning, oe to onstue one and he saekingdo of iages, devoted to a single ask: o gve hany ba aplace n the wold6

So, on the one hand, ee ae poea as dipoiti hat endowads a funon of soia ediaon, beoing the testionies, osybols, of aipaion in a nondesipt ounity onstued as theesoation of the socal bond o he oon wold On the ohe hand,

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TE ETICAL TURN OF AETETIC AND POTIC

however, yesterdays polemcal volence tends to ake on a new ure;

es radicalzed as a testimony o he unrepresentable, to endess evand caasrophe

The unrepresenable, whch s the central cateory of the ethca un aeshetic relecon, s also a cateory that produces an ndistincon

between rh and fact, occupyin he same pace n aeshetic reectionhat error does on the polcal pane The dea of the unrepresenablen fact conlaes wo disnct noons mpossibily and interdiction To

deare tha a ven subject s unrepresentabe by artisc means s n facto say severa hns a once can mean hat the specc means of art,or of suandsuch an art, are not adequate to represent a parcuar

subjects sinularty Ths is he sense n which Burke once deared hatMltons descpon of Lucfer n Parae Lost was unrepresenable inpann The reason was that ts sublme aspect depended upon heduplcous pay of words ha do not realy le us see wha they pretend

o show us However, when the pictoral equvalent o he words s

exposed o sht, as n panins of he Temptaon of Saint Anthony byartists rann from Bosch o Dali, t becomes a picturesque or roesqueure Lessns Laokoon presens he same arumen Lessin arues

tha he sufferin of Vrils Laocon n the Aenia s unrepresenable nscupture, because s vsual realism dvess art of its deaiy nsoar asit divests the aracter of hs dny Extreme sufferin beloned to a

realty hat was, n prncple, exuded om he art of he vsbeCleary ths is not wha was meant by he atas, nstiated n the

name of he unrepresenabe, on he American teevsion seres Hocaust(98, which caused much conroversy by presenn he enocde

throuh he sories of wo famles The probem was no said to be tha

the siht of a shower room caused lauher, but tha i was impossibeo make a lm about the exenaon of the Jews by presenn conalbodies miatin the henchmen and the victms of he camps Ths dea

raon of mpossibily in fact conceals a prohbon The prohbon,

however, also conaes two thins a prospon tha bears on he event

and a proscrpion tha bears on art On he one hand, it s caimed tha

he nature o he actons and sufferns in the exermnaton campsforbds there ben any depcton of for aeshetic pleasure On he otherhand, t s sad hat hs unprecedened event of exermnaon cals for a

new art, an art of the unrepresenable The ask of ths art hen becomesassocated wth he dea of an antirepresenative demand that becomes

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the norm of mode art as such.8 A straight lne s hs draw fromMalevich's Black Squae, he rs of wch dates from 1915, singhe deah of pctorial guration, o Claude Lanzmann's m Shoah,

compleed n 1985 wich handles the theme of he nrepresenabiltyof extermaon

It must, however, be asked in wha sense s lm belongs to an artof he nrepresenable Lke any oher m, it deicts characters andsuaons And ike so many others, i immediatey sets s in a poeticlandscape, n this case a rver meandering throgh eds on wi a

boa is rockng to he rhyhm of a nosagc song. e director hmsefintroduces ths pasoral eisode with a provocative satemen, announc-

ng he conal natre of the lm: Tis story sart n or me on thebanks of he river Ner in Poand So the alleged unrepresentabilityof extermnaon does no mean tha ction canno be used to cofrons arocous reality Ths s very deren from the argument presentedin Lessngs Laokoon which nsead was grounded in he dsance betweenrea presentaon and artisc representaon On the conrary, it becaseeveryhng s represenable, and hat nohng separaes ctonal representaon from the presenation of reality, that the problem of presenting

he genocde ares. Ths probem s no to know whether or no one canor mst represen, bt to know wha one wants to represen and whamode of representation s approrae to this end. Now, for Laann,the essena feare of the genocide resdes n he gap beween he perfec raonalty of its organizaon and he nadequacy of any expanaoryreason for ha programmng The genocde s perfectly raona n sexecution, and even paed to eradcate its ow races. Bu hs ratio-nalty sef does not depend on any sucen raonal lk betweencause and effect What makes ctionalized accons of the Hoocastnadeqate, hen, s s gap beween two types of raonay. Schctions show s the ransformation of ordnary persons nto monsters,and of reseced czens nto human rbbish. hereby obeys a cassicalrepresenative logc accordng to wich characters ener into conictwith one anoher on accont of her personalities, he aims they prse,and he ways in which hey are transformed n accordance with thesation Wel, such oc is condemned to miss both he sglariy ofthis rationality and he singulary of its absence of reason. By conrast,there s another ype of ction tha proves to be perfecty apropratefor he story' tha Lanzmann wans to tel, hat is, ctona qry, he

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pooype of which is en Kane ( 1941) : his fom of naaton evolvesaound an unfathomabe even o chaacte and atempts o asp ee, bu a the ik of enouneng oly the emptnes of the caue o

meaninglesnes of he see In the case of Kane, ths i he now hafals in is minaue glas dome and a name on a hds eigh thecae of the Shoah, s an even beyond any cause ha could be aonally econstucted

The m i theefoe no o be opposed o the eeved Holotn he way ha an at of he uneesenable s o an at of epeentaton e upue wih he asica ode of eeenaton doe noanlae ino the adven of an at of he uneeentable On the

contay, a feeing up with egad o he nos tha ohibed heeeenaton of Laocon suffeng and the subime aspect of MonLufe ee noms f eeenaton dened the uneesenabeThey pohbed he eeenaon of cetan seace, equed tha aacula ype and fom be ven o each aua ype of subject, anddemanded tha he action of chaate be deduced om thei ychoogy and iuaiona cicumance n accodance wth he lausby ofhe psychooca moivaons and the esence of ues and effects

None of these pesctons ppies o he kind of at o whch beong no the uneesenabe ha and n conas o the oldogic of eesenaion Insead is he eiminaton of a boundayha escts the availabe choice of eeenabe ubjects and way oeeentng hem An antepeentatve at is no an at ha no ongeeesens I s an at whoe choce of eeentable ubjes and meansof eesentaion is no longe limied This s he eason why he exemnaton of the Jews can be eeened wthou having o deduce ifom he moivaion abuabe o a aacte o the logic of a iuaon,withou having o how gas chambes, cenes of exeminaton, henchmen o victms And th ao he eason why an a epeening heexceonal chaacte of the genoide withou any cenes of extemination s conemoay with a ype of aining made uey of lines andsquaes of coou a wel a with a ype of inalaion at ha simyeexhib objects o image boowed om he wold of he commodyand odna eveday ife

To invoke an at of he uneesenable, i heefoe necessa o pulhis unepeentabe fom a eam ohe than tha of at ise necessa o make he fobidden and the imossibe conde, whi uposes

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two violen theoretca gestures Frst reigous inerdiction mus bentroduced nto art by transforming he prohibiion on representing heJewsh God ino he impossbily of represenng the exermnation of

the Jewish people Second, he suus of representaion nherent inthe ruin of the represenatve order mus be transformed into tsopposte a ack or an mpossbiity of represenaton Ths presumestha he concep of arsic modey be consrued n such a waythat it lodges a prohibition withn mpossiblty by ung mode artas a whoe ino an art constitutivey dedcaed o esfyng to theunrepresentable

One concep n parcular has been used exensvey for his operaton

he 'subme We have seen how Lyotard reconsrued for such endsWe have also seen he condtons requred for tha reconsructionLyotard had o nvert not ony he meanng of the antrepresenatverupture bu also he very meanng of the Kanian subme To placemode art under the concept of he subme requres invertng thelmiessness of boh the representable and he means of represenatonnto is opposie he experence of a fundamena dsagreement betweensensible maerialiy and hought Ths presupposes rst dentfying the

play of arts operaions wih the dramaturgy of an impossibe demandBut the meaning of hat dramaturgy is also nverted In Kants work, thesensibe facuy of he imanaton experienced the limis of its agreemen wh hnking Is failure marked the limis of ts own naure andopened up o he 'limiessness of reason thereby also sgnaled hepassage om the aesthetc o he moal sphere Lyoard makes hispassage out of the ream of art he very aw of art But he does ths at thecos of nvertng the roes No onger is t he facuy of sesaton tha

fas to ve up to he demands of reason On the contrary now i s spirwhich s faued, summoned to pursue the impossbe task of approang matter, of sezing he sensbe n its singularity But he singularty ofthe sensibe n fact ges reduced to the dentely reterated expeenceof one and he same debt As a resu, he task of he arsic avangardesconsists n repeaing he gesture hat inscbes the sho of an aerywhch niialy appears to be tha of sensible quaiy bu ultmaeyreveas iself o be idenical wh the ntractable power of the Freudan'Thng or the Mosac law The 'ehical ransformaion of the submemeans exacty ths the jont transormaion of aeshetc autonomy andKanan moral auonomy nto one and the same law of heeronomy, no

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one nd te sme w wereby mperious commnd is mited to

rdicl fctuity. The gesture of r tus consts in tetiying ndenitelyto te nnite debt of spt wth respect to w tht s mu th

of the order of Moses God it s the fctul w of the unconscous.The fct of mtter resistnce becomes submssion to the lw of theOter. ut ti w of the Other in ts tu ony our subjecon to te

condon of being bo too eryTis overtug of estecs nto etcs obviously cnnot be ped

n terms of s beng 'posode e splsc opposion betweente mode nd te posode prevents us from understndng the

trnsformtons of the preent itution nd ther stkes forgets in

eect tht modeim tsef s ony ever been long contrdctionbetween two opposed ethec polts two politcs tht re opposed

but on te bsis of ommon core lnking the uonomy of rt to thentption of communty to come nd therefore inkng this

utonomy to the promse of its own suppression Te very word vntgrde desgnted the two opposng forms of the me knot oiningtogether the utonomy of rt nd the promise of emncipton it con

tined somemes in more or less confued wy t other times in

wy tht more cerly reveled ter ntgonism On the one hnd thevntgrde movement med to trnsform the forms of rt nd tomke them identc wth the forms for constructing new word inwhc rt would no onger exst s seprte relity On the other thevnt-grde preserved te utonomy of te rtistc spere from formsof compromise with prctices of power nd poitic struggle or witforms of the ethetiztion of lfe n the cpitlist wod. While thevnt-grde movement ws Futurist or constructvist drem to work

towrds rts self-suppresson n te formtion of new sensoryworld it so nvoved strugge to preserve the utonomy of rt

from forms of power nd commodity estetizton Thi ws nott ll in order to preserve it for the pure enoyment of rt for is own

ske but on the contrry s the incrption of the unresoved conrdicton between the esthec promise nd the reities of oppreson inte word

One of tese poics ded out in the Sovet drem ltoug t ive on

in the more modest contemporry utopis of the rchitects of new citiesof deiers re-nventng communty on te bss of new urbn desgnor the 'retonl rtsts introducing n object n imge or n unusu

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insipon in the andspes of 'dcu' subrbs. Ths coud be caedthe 'sof' version of he ethica um of aeshecs The second was noaboished by any kind of postodem revouon The pos-odem

cava was ascay ony ever a sokeseen hiding he transforaon of the second odes io an ethcs' tha s no onger a sofenedand sociaized version of the aesthec prose of eancipaon, bu itspure and sipe inversion Ths inverson no onger inks art's specicityo a futre eancipaon, t insead to an ieoria and neverendng catastrophe

Tesfying o hs s the pervading dscourse in whch art paced in theservice of the nrepresenabe and of winessng either yeserday's geno

cide, he never-endng caasrophe of the present, or the ieoratraa of cvizaon Lyoard's aeshetic of the sbie s he ossuccinc foration of this overg he radon of Adoo, hesuons he avantgarde to retrace indeney he ine separaingartworks proper o he ipre ixtures of cuture and coucaon. e a, however, no onger o preserve the prose ofeancipaon On the contrary, t is o ates indeney o he ieoria aienaon hat transfors every prose of eanciaon no a ie

that ony ever be achieved in he for of innite crie, art's answerto which is to put p a ressance' hat is nohg b he endess workof oug

e hstoca ension between he two gures of the avantgarde hsends o vansh into the eh cope of a cony ar dedicated torestorng he socia bond and an art bearg witness o he irreedabecaasrophe yig at the very orin of tha bond This ransforaonreprodces exacy he other ransforaon accordng to which hepoitica ension of rgh and fac vanishes in he cope fored by consensus and he innite jsce weded agains inne evi epngo say tha conteporary ehca discorse is erey the owningoen of the new fors of doinaon But hs wod be to pass overan essentia point: if he sof ehcs of consenss and the art of proxiityare the ways in which yeserday's aesthec and poitica radicaity havebeen adapted o coneporary condions, hen he hard ethics of ieevi and of an art devoted to the interinabe og of irreedabecaasrophe, by contras, eerges as the exac overtug of tha radicaity Enabing tha overug is the concepon of e hat etica

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THE ETHICAL TURN OF AETHETIC AND POTIC

radcaiy inheed from mdes radicaliy, he idea of a me c nowo by a decisive event For a long whe, tha deisve event was hat ohe revluton to cme Wh the ethcal u, ths rentain is srctly

nverted: hsory becmes rdered acrding o a cu n me made by aradcal even tha is n onger in on of us but aready behind us H theNa genode lodged iself a the core f hshca, aeshec andca thinking some fur or ve decades afer the discovery f hecams the reason is not only tha the rst generaon f survivrsremaned silent Arund 1989, when he as remaning vestges of hsrevouin were casng the evens un then had lnked olicaland aesthec radcaty to a cu n hsrca me This cu, hwever,

required hat the radicaity, coud be reaced nly by genocide at thecst of nverng is meaning, f transfong t int the already enduredcaasrohe om whi ony a god culd save us

I d n mean t say tha today itics and ar are otaly subject ohis vision I wuld be easy ce forms of itca aion and artstcinterventon hat are ndeendent om, or hoste o, tha domnanurren And hat is exactly how I understand t: he ethica tu is noan hstorica necessiy, for he sime reason that here no such hing

Ths us srength, however, resides in s capaciy to recode and inverhe forms of thought and atttudes whch yeserday aimed at brinngabu a radica olitcal and/r aeshetc change The ethcal tu s not asmle aeasemen of he various yes of dissensus between ocsand ar in a cnsensua rder aears raher to be the ultmae form ofthe o absoutze his dssensus The modest gour of an Ado,wanting o exurgate the emanciaory oenta of ar of any form ocomrmse wih culural commerce and aestheiczed fe, becomes theredun of art t the ethica witnessing f unreresenable caasropheArends oliical urism, whch venred to searae oitcal freedomfrom scia necessiy, becomes a lemaon of he necesstes of theconsensa order The Kantan auonmy f he mora aw becmes anethica subjectn o he law of the Oher Human rghs become theege f the avenger The saga of a wrld cu nt wo becomes a waragains errr Bu he central element n this overuing is wihudubt a cerain heology of ime, the dea o modety as a ime destnedt carry ut an inteal necessiy, once gloous, now disastrous This isthe conceion of tme ut no wo by a foundng even or by an even

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o oe Breakig wh odays eha ogurao, ad reug theiveos of pois ad ar to ther dieree eas rejeg thefatasy of ther purity, givig ba o hese iveos heir staus as

tha are aways abiguous preaous, itigos This eessay easdvorig he o every heoogy of tie, fro every hough of apriorda traua or a savatio o oe

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llResponse to Critics

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CHAPTER FOURTEENe Use of Disincions

The exercise ta I have been se here s a copex one 1 As the authoro y discourse and he bearer o its sgnicatio I a obiged o respondo the inerpretaons at others have roposed o it, or to the criquesha they have addressed o But I aso have to ake up the osiion ohe oher, to ry o esabish yse a a dstance ro which poin iwoud be possibe to x a perspecive on y work and o sugges where

is possie coherence iesTo respond o hs twood constraint, I attept o ndcae, nthe objects o y work and he rocedures ha I appy to the soeconsants whi respond o oher consants in he ctica quesionstha have been rased I star wih a noda poin, hat is y use oconcepua dsnctons such as pol/polce and the aesthec/esentate egmes o ar o eatures characerize hs use rst, I put orwardthese disincons as repaceents or other disncons, and agans

the ey eecuae ess another tpe o casscation than a type odecassication Wch s o sa and this s the second and reatedeature ha hey ai to pu no queson the receved distrbuion ohe reaons etween he dsnc an the indistinc he pure and thexed, the ordnary and the excepona he sae and he oher

Let us take he dsncion ha has spt the ost naey hatwhi ses in contrast he oice and poics This dsncion has oenbeen aken as a new verson o we-on opposions: spontanety and

organzaon or instiuting ac and instiuted order The response husade is tha such pure acs are dooed either to rean in their spendidsoation or o dsapear the instituted order and orhwth to insibethe nostagia o the nstuting act

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I have no dob conribed o acedng th neretaon ndye t concepa dincton had been inrodced in a el-denedconex, one hat lend an enrely other ene. Thi conex hat of

a critiqe of he dominan heme of he 1980 he 'ret' of policalphioophy n my cqe of h ret, I oo a my target the deaof politica ploophy a ch, ha i, a pecic idea of poc 'initelf' and a pecic ay n hch hi ecici made by conra thanother The poic/police ay that politic aay come after, even prpe eqalty logicaly prior; ha it i never an originary ac,bt a paradoxca idenity of contrarie ndeed, every common proertyom hich one atempt to dedce he poical commnity i given a

divided. hi ha I hoed ith repec o the ritoelian dedconof he poical anma om the logica anima, and o he dviion of thater sef according to hether poee the h or only he aithesisof langage.

erefore, if h oppoition ioate poitics, it in order o eparate om every atemp o ee poic a he direc effecaon of a ingleprncipe of commnty No, dpening h t gre of he one aomplie dpenng th to gre of he o o ay of conrang

he py of poitic th a certan mprity. The r gre conravenedi he one ranmited by the Marxit tradon n h radition, a contra s made beeen he ilory prity of gnier and inon ofpoic and the reay of economc procee and ca conct Foloing n the foosep of the yong Marx, mmon forma demoacy othe cor of real democracy, and the politcal revotion to ha of the'hman revotion'.

n it oppoon to that dncon, the poitic/poce binary ao refethe oer major gre of he to, hich i eenaly an inverion of heMart chema. T econd gre preented a an oppoition beeenpoitical dincion ad herefore freedom and ocia indincon or necety or even a an oppoon beteen 'ivng ogether', 'ivingel' or he 'common good' and bare lfe n the eay 'Ten Thee onPolic', I tae a my expicit target rend' noon of 'poica life', that, her oppoon beeen poli and the ol I objec hat i precelyan an-poica logic, he oc of the pol hat mar o a pec realmreeed for polica acs n hi ay hi maely t ay for benghoe on bne and denaon t i o engage n poi I nderand i, poic , on the conary, an actvty ha rerace he ine, that

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E UE OF DTNtON

nouces ses of uveraty and paes for the foulation of the

common, nto a univere that was considered prvae, domesc or soal.The police/polic opposition, then, pus nto quetion every prnple

tha mark out poitive phere and way of being. There s no domanof the polical a opoed o ha of he soal and domec oscurty.

Silarly, there no dncton tha separae appearance, on he onehand, from reality, on the oher. Appearance i not the mask of a givenreality. is an eective re-conguraon of he gven, of wha i viible,and herefore of what can be aid abou it and done with repect to . alo folows from th tha there never any oppoon between wooppoed sdes; wth he ream of olce instituon, on one side, and he

form of pure demonraon of auhenc egaltarian subjectvy, on theoher. There is no parliamenary and 'democrac comedy to et in contra to he heerogeneou communtaan power emboded n a pecgroup or colectve word. From the moment tha te word equa incrbed in the exts of laws and on he pedimens of buildng; from themoment hat a ate nue rocedures of equality under a commonaw or an equal counting of vote, there i an eeivenes of politi,even f hat effectvene suordnaed o a poce prnpe of distbu

on of identies, paces and functon. The dsncon eween pocand police takes effect n a realy hat alway rean a part of indstinction. is a way of thinking hrough he mixure. ere no word

of pure pol ha exist apart om a word of mixture. ere is onedtruon and a redstrbution.

The oppostion etween he aetec and representave reme of arti, in imilar fahon, a way of puting no queston dentes andaltere: the deny of a and the oppoon that have een made ofuncon wthn it. A isue s to queon he anhtocal unvoty ofnoon uch as 'art or 'lterature and, correavely, the manner nwhch they thus set up tempora breaks. Indeed, the domnant dscoureon art modet dscoure sumi he relaonshp between meand etety to a very strange usage. By eparang out the pety ofart from the dscoure on art, it pot the anitoriy of is concep.

Converey, however, this anhistorcal art appears as the end pont of ahistorcal teleology: wh Mallarm, Mondran or Schnberg, ar tohave become naly, n i reay, the auonomou acvy tha i hasalway been, in t concet. Thu, the alleged rejection of 'hiosmead to the massive use of a hstorca eleoloy.

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I have no doubt contibuted to aceding ths interetaon. And

yet ths conceptual dstincton had een ntroduced in a wel-denedcontext, one that ends it an entrey other sense. This context s that of

a ctque of the domnant heme of the 980s: the 'retu of politcaphiosophy. my critique of ths retu I took as my target the dea

of politica phiosophy as such tha s a specic dea of polcs 'nitself and a specic way n which ths e is made by contrast withanoter The polics/police says that politcs aways come after even if tsprincipe equality is logcaly prior; that t s never an originary actbut a paradoca identty of contraries. Indeed every common propetyfrom whch one attempts to deduce the poitical community s given as

divided Ths s what showed wth respect to the Aristotelian deductonof the poca anima om the ogical animal and to the dvision of thislatter tsef according to whether it possesses the exis or ony the aesisof anguage

Therefore if ths opposton isolates poitics it s in order to separate itom every atempt to see poitics as the drect effectuaon of a singe

pnciple of community. Now dispensing with this gure of the one asomplies dspensing wth two gures of the o, two ways of contrastng

the purity of politcs with a cerain mpurity. The rst gure contravenedis the one transmitted by the Marxist tradition. this tradton a con

trast s made between the usory purity of sgniers and insttutions of

politics and the realty of economc processes and cass conicts Followng in the footsteps of the young Marx it summons formal democracy tothe court of real democracy and the poltcal revoution to that of thehuman revouton.

its oppostion to that dsncton the politcs/police bnary aso refutes

the other major gure of the two which s essentay an inversion of theMarxist schema. Ths second gure is presented as an oppositon between

political dstincton and therefore freedom and socia indstnction

or necessty or even as an opposition between 'lvng together vingwel or the common good and bare lfe n the essay 'Ten Theses onPolitics I take as my explicit target Arendts noon of polical life thatis her opposon etween polii and the sl. I object that it s precisely

an anpolil logic the logic of the pol, that marks o a spec realmreserved for polcal acts in this way wich is lmatey to say for beings

whose own business and desnation t is to engage in poli. I under

stand it pocs , on the contrary an acvity that retraces the line that

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E UE OF DITINCTION

inroues ses of uversay an aies for te foruon of theon ino a unverse tat was onsidered vae does or soa

e oie/ois ooson hen uts into queson every rinie

ha arks out ositive sheres and ways of eing There s no doainof he oia as oose o ha of he soia an does osySiiary there s no stinion hat searates aearane on he onehan o reaiy on he oher Aearane is no he ask of a givereaity I a eeive reonguraon of the given of what s viseand herefore of wha an e said aout i and done wih rese o it aso foows o his tha here is never any oosion eween twooosed sdes; with he rea of oie nstuons on one side and he

fors of ure deonstration of authen egaitarian sujeivy on theother There is no araentary and deoa' oey o set in onras o he heterogenous ounitaan ower eode n a seigrou or oeve word Fro he oent tha he word q isinsred n he ets of aws an on he eents of udngs fro heoen tha a stae insues roedures of equaiy uner a oonaw or an equa ounting of votes there s an eeveness of oiseven tha effeiveness is suordnaed o a oie rne of disu

on of idenes aes and funions The distinon eween oitisand oie akes effe in a reaity hat aways reans a ar of ndisnon is a way of thinking rough he iture There is no wordof ure ois hat eists aart o a wor of iture There s onesrution and a re-dsriuion

The oosiion etween the aesheti and reresenave regies o arts in sar fashon a way of utng into question denes andaerities the deny of a and he oositions ha have een ade o

funon within t A ssue s o queson the anhistoria unvoiy ofnoons suh as art' or ierature' and orreativey the anner inwhih they thus set u teora reaks deed he donan disourseon ar odeis isourse suits he reaonshi between eand eeity to a very srange usage By searang ou he seity ofar fro the sourse on ar osis he anhisoriy of is oneConversey however hs anhisoria art aears as he en on of ahsoria eeoogy wh Maar Mondrian or Shnerg art is tohave eoe nay n ts reaiy he autooous avy tha i hasaways een in ts one Thus the aeged reeon of hsoris'eas to the assve use of a hsoa eeoogy

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DIENU

postuatng he estence of isorical regmes of idenicaion, I am

endeavourng precisey to undo this kno of the anhsorca and heteleolocal. the rst place, ar in he singuar has no aways exsted

as a univoca reaity There have aways been ars, n the sense of formsof know-how There have someimes been divisions such as tha whchse n contrast the beral arts and he meanica art Bu art andliterature, as we know tem today, have only exsted for abot twocenures They dd no come to esence as radicaly new ways of

dong but as new regimes of idenicaton When Madame de Stal casforth he word latue in t new sense, she was very carefu tosipulate that she was not proosng a ange o he poeic coded by

the heorecians of bele lette l hat she sad tha she had changedwas the conception of he reatonshp between tte and sociey There

is, in fact, no istorcal poin of rupture on he basis of which i became

impossible to wrte or o pain in he od fashion and necessary to do t ina new way no poin of retu tha brough about a shif from an art of

represenaon o an of presence or of the unrepresenabe. Bu there

is a sow re-conguraon that provdes e same ways of doing/mang a meahor, a o a use of ght and of shadows wih a new visibiliy

and new form of ntellibiliy on the bass of wich new ways of doing/makng arie other words, the concep of remes of art underminesthe idea of an istor rpure wth respect to the constituen elemen

of art. undermines, then, he games of oposton under whichpeople have sough to conceive of the dea of an aristic modety':tive/intransitive, presence/representaon, representation/unreresenabe These concepts profess o desae constituive enttes, ordsinct consiutig principes, between two momens and two forms of

art. Bu su a disncon s purey imaginary and pertains o nohingrea The su had not yet rsen the phrase that bens Vrgna Woof's

The Wae, s no more nranstive han the Homerc phrase rosyngered

. And the rst senence of Robert Anteme's L'E Humane Iwen o piss; it was stl nght has no more to do wih any unrepresen

abe an he inaugura ne of Iphgne, whose model i disany echoesYes, ts Agamemnon, ts your kng hat wakes yo'.2

The noions of tante and ntantve do no desgnate any readifference al hey do is repea he presupposiion accordng to whch,

om a spec momen onwards, ar is no longer what i was, and, in nolonger being what i was, has nay become wha s in sef, n ear-cu

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E UE OF DITINION

contrat to wha t s not: an mmoby n contra o a rcuation, anauonomou realty n conras o wha nothng more han a means for

omehng ele

The queton reman a o wha it i hat make thi preuppoon ofthe identty of art and the difference of new art o insiten My anweri the folowng: th nsence ha resued from he blow o he sysemwhereby what pertaned o ar wa aed and judged Becaue repreenaon, exactly, doe no refer to a ype of artisc rocedure, a pecicconstituen or a pecic ontolocal texure of he hng pertanng toart, but nead o a e of aws for the compoton of element wthn areme for identfying what hat he art do/make and wha din

guihes them from oher ways of doing/makng eren le he paradoxof the auonomy of art: gnie he vanihng of every tauary oundary beween the nide and he outde. non-representation or theunrepreenabe can be posed a he esence of ar then it can ony bebecause, converely, ar submed to a dominan regme n whcheveryhng i repreentable, and represenale n whatever way. sprecely a he oint where al normative difference dsappear etweenbeautful and villainous subject, nobe and vile genres, and proper and

mproper expreon tha the 'dfference of art can come o e expreedas the mpoibty, or nerdion, of repreentaton, and tha peopecan sart o cone themelves wih nventing a mode of language hati pecc o lterature. One might speak of a rancendenal lluon nthe Kantian ense: an lluon that i o ome exent neceary nducedy he very funconng of our organzng categore.

Bu the fact that an iluion neceary doe not make t am o beprovidng u with knowledge any more vald the rt place, the crite

ria for he 'peciy of ar and of he 'specty of aric modetyhave no coive value. l hey do is re-stae the preuppoition ofhat seccy. Furthermore, however, art peciy s y no meanpecc o . e bnarie of preence/repreenaon and of ranive/

ntranitve are only two dierent way of operatng the mple dierencebeween he ame and the other by invertng the value of the posveand he negave But behind th formal game easy o recognizehe maer gures of wete relgiou tradon: 'resene s he pirbecome leh hat aolhe he dsance etween the eter and he awhe unrepreentable he unpronounceale name of the ungurabeGod who peak n the cloud. Smlar to he way that the complemen o

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DSENU

the noton of the anstoricity of art s teleoogy aim about artsspeity resut in an identcation of tha baic specicity wth thegure of regous ateriy

To make a disncion between regimes hen s not to say that fromsuch and such a moment onwards it became impossble to eate art inthe same way; that in 1788 art was part of the repreentative regme andn 1815 part of the aesthetc regme The ditncon denes not twoepoch but two types of funtioning; not an oppoton between twoconstituent priniples but one between two ogics two aws of composon o modes of percepon and of intellibiity; not between twoprinipes of excluon but between two pciples of coestence. s

posbe to dene htocaly the emergence of the aesthetc reme ofart as a aw of gobal nconing however ts eemens have derenttemporae ad the oba funconing does not exude anachronsms:pcoa abtracon s above al another way of seeng Rembrandts NghtWatch and Ruben snt om e Cross; and conversely the drecvesgven by the great Holywood producers to ther drecors accord whthe principles by wch Voltare and Diderot would orrec Coee orGreuze The aeshec reme of art s characerzed by ts mutemporaty

the unlimtedness of the representable and the metamohic characer ofit eemens No moment arve at whch beaches of colour chase awaynaked women and batte horses (Maurice Dens . Instead there i apriniple of unlimited substutabiity between a brush stroke a spotof blue a corsage an eec of ight the representation of a womansbody a depcion of bourgeos fe n Holand or of the popuar pastmesof Parisans the homage given by one painter to another; between aove a metaphor a dosage of ultravolet (Epstein a slowing-down anacceleration a chue e phase or a cut between two shots

Ths is not to say that ths marks an entry nto the regn of anythinggoes. Or to pu t another way the anything goes s tself a determinate reationhip between a quo something of importance and anegation Ths determnate reationship between contraes deneswhat I have caed a senory exception (sensble 'excton), a sefdffeng sensbe weave that is inhabted by a self-dfferng thoughtFrom the expressions of artsts to the utterances of phiosophers aconsant of the aesthetc regime is precisely this coincdence of the factand the nonfac of the known and the unknown of the wiled andthe uned

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E UE OF DITINION

What is t that disnguishes ths hinking from oher ways of inkingthe arsc excepon? Let's s ake an expression of Aain Bados as apoint of compason: The truth of which art is the process is always the

ruh of the sensble qa sensble.' The diffeence s hat, for me here isno sch thing as the sensble qa sensible. What Kant teaches s s hatthere are many vaos knds of the sensble. The sensble s aways a ceraincongraon between sense and sense a certain sense of he sensibeAnd i parcular the sensble pertaining to ar and tat pertaining tothe beatifl ony ever conjoin in he mode of he dissensa since artcanot but know ad to wl, whie he beatifl ca oly be hogh ofas hat which does not res!l from knowedge or wl There are hen,

two ways of hinking hs gap We can seek to close it in order to posit annvocal essence of ar as he truh of te sensibe qa sensibe'. Thisredcon of the aterity of he sensible to itself can only be carred ot byfavouring a same that akes the gre of the oe such, he ruh ofthe sensibe is its being the event of the dea Kantian terms everyaeshetics s an aeshetic of the sblime a seH-vanshing aeshecs, hatis to say, in essence an ehcs.

The second way consiss in inhabng he gap This s he roper of what

Kant cals the aeshec iea', wich for my part I lhe image-phraseAeshec deas are inventions that ransform he wiled and he nwled,he known and the nown he fac and he non-fac. ese are theinvenons that ve art s sensible qality, what we might ca is ontology oher words, the ontoogy of art nder the aeshetic eme s what sweaved by te inventions of ar by institng their dissensses, byplacing one sensbe word in aoher: the sensble worl n which theimagnaon obeys the concept i the sensibe world in which derstanding and imanation reate to each oher wthot concept Tisontology has then a remarkable srucre: arsc ivenons constructe eecveness of he ontooca erence at they prespposeConstrcing the effecveness of what one prespposes s referable to asa vericaon Te arts, in pracce verify the ontology hat renders temossbe Bt hat ontoloy has no oher consistency than hat which isconstruced by hese veications

My approa to he dstincion between regimes of ars s he same asto hat between poics and police: t is a crca hinking in he Kanansense that s a way of thiking abot what t s hat renders possbe thederences that are institte by schadsch a sensibe domain

2

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Which s also to say by suchadsuch a doma of telibility, suh asart or pocs A ccal hkig is aso a way of hig accordg tohch the istutio of sch domais s coceved as he produc of

cca operaos or dssesuses. This meas that hese domais exstisofar as they are tigious ey rest either o a dierece grouded he aure of thigs or o a disposo of Beig. ey have a dereaexstece that s subject to forms of vericatio that is proesses ofaterao, processes of loss of a cera Same: processes of dsdeticatio, of disapproprao or of idereao

My aempt is disguished from hat of certai others wh simiaristorica experieces ad proximate probems ad formuaos by a

derece i cocevg he heterogeeous by a way of coceivig that does ot ascbe t aother otologica power I have tried to coceive heterogeesis hrough a type of hkig ad acivity hat producesshocks betwee worlds but shos betwee worlds the same world:redisributios recompositios ad recoguraos of elemets.

Ideed, t is obvious that my heoreca terest i dissensus s somehg hat I share wih may ohers My way of cocevig it however

is qute deret to theirs. Nearly al the other auhors whether dea or

aive, hat are reevat for cocevg dissesus today acuay share oead the same idea of nsensus, ad hey al give the same ame to itspoitical gure: demoa Thikers as dfferet as Aredt ad LyoardBadiou, Agambe or Mler al posit a cera idea of democracy ascosesus that s to say they coceive t i terms of Patos arimecequay as he regime of the disc or idieret mxture Demoracy,for them is he regime of the differet cou smar to the circuaoof commodies or the at ow of ik that characteristic of he ewspaper for Malarm is the power of the bad mutiple which circuatesby exchag tsef a erosum game ad by reproducig itselfdecaly. These thkers al corast it wth he power of dfferece: hegood mulple, tha which cotas a prcipe of aterity, a suppemetarypower Ts may be a supeower: the Aredia power of bengor the viaty of the mutudes (Negri) or eve a iexchageablesupplemearty (Badous ruhevet or Miers oeaddio) Ass eher they groud pocs o that supeower or hat suppemet,or ese hey cotrast t wih a completely deret priple of thecommuty (Miers pastora govemet). They pace democracy iopposio to a prcipe of heterogeeity. Heterogeety may be a gure

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E UE OF DITINION

of the being of engs - innite or multudes, groundng a true politics

or an overcomng of polics in communism. may, on he conrary, bedened wih he oher of being, lockng he communarian power.

For my part, I took hs oc y he oher ho. I took he singularsance of ving the power of he heerogeneous, or of he onemore, the

name of he demos and, as a resut of setng democracy n oppostionto consensus. Ths s a way of sayng tha here is no such thing as aheterogeneous real no onoocal prpe of poitical difference or ofdifference in reaon o polics no arkh or arkh s stead, there a principle of equality whi is no the 'poper of politics and whchhas no wrd of s own oher than hat traced by ts acs of vercaon.

Polcal subjecs are no dened by he exerse of a deren poweror a supeower u by he way in whch foms of subecvaonrecongure he opography of the common. Tis s to say tha poliicaheterogeneiy s a mater of composition and not of consuon. Thsconception of he heterogeneous ress on a dfferen dea of he homogeneous, a dfferent dea of consensus. From my poin of view, consensuss dened no by he indieren mxure of equivaens. I s dened bythe idea of the proper and the distution of he places of the proper

and the imroper ths idea mpies. s he very idea of he dfferencebetween the proper and he mproper hat serves o separate he poliial

out om he social, ar om ulure culture om commerce, and so n.The hg hat reaks wih consensus n exercising the power of he oneinaddon is susutabliy. I is, n art, he possliy tha a metaphor

or a play of light and shadow e no more han a meaphor or a play ofligh and shadow or ha it may e the power of a ove or a testimony ofa specic tme and wod. s he possbily hat a thng be a work ana commody. In politics, this is he demos as he abolion o every formof arkh, of every way of producing a correspondence between thepaces of goveg and a dsposon to occupy these paces. The oneiaddon he power of he ndistinc tha undoes the divisions byundemining he places inhaited by the same and the other.

There i en, no sujec possessing a power of rupture or of unbidng,no subec that exercses an onoogcal power of excepon. The excepon s always ordnary. The atemp o atain the excepon of e properentais a process whereby the proper ends up disappearig in eindifferentiaton of ehics. I bey evoke two examles here of thisdialecic of the roper. The rst s he seHcancelaon of pol

23

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dierence a Aendt that occurs n Agambens work; the second the

self-canceaton of the modest thought of the proper of art nLyotards Agamen we know reprises the Arendan ique of the

Right of Man and of the Citen that s to say the idea that there is aninherent ecepon in the very dvision of the poitical sujec into man

and ctien. He reprses the strucure of the dlemma that Arendt applieto these Rights. Ether t s the case that the ghts of the citien are the

rghts of man but man as such bare man simply man has no ghts atall a i wel shown by the refugees exampe they are therefore purelyllusory or ese on the contrary the ghts of man are n fac the rightsof the cien those that fal to y means of his elonging to a tate

The derence is then a smple tautology The reason for the diemmafor Arendt resies n the confusion etween polica and non-poitical

life the confusion etween two derent ives (bos an oe) From mypont of view politics exsts at precisely the point at which this divisionis put into queston And the interval between man an citen is the

operator of thi re-divison. If on the other hand the aim realy i to

separate out these two forms of life to make an acual dstinction

between politics and the soca then t can ony resut in an assimlaon

of 'pure polics with the sphere of state acion This may be done n thegentle way trough promotng the 'retu of the poitica and aunching

tirade about lvng togethe and the common good which am n the atnstance at exutng the Jupp plan.3 This may be done in the more

pessimsic tones of the theory of the state of excepon according towhch habeas us and the Rights of Man reveal ther truth in the

Na genocide tself ultimatey also homogeneous to our emoac

normality. The concepts of state of exception and of bare life are thennames for a modety n wich al intervals are abolished and no interva

is eft open for poitca pracice.e ame dialecc at work in Lyotards opposition between the

producions of art whch he places under the si of the subime andthe forms of rcuation of uture and commodities I shall refer to hs

poemic aganst trans-avantgardism: Intermixing reaist abstrac andhyperrealst motifs on the same canvas Lyotard says imples that thetastes of shoppers and ics has tumphed Yet this taste s no taste at

all A derence therefore has to be potuated between the sensorum ofart and that of culura and market 'commerce ut there s only one

way by which to confer a rea derence on a sensble weave: this to

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E UE OF DITINION

ake it he site of the afestato of a heterogeeous power, i oherwords, of a suprasesibe power This s eacy what occurs Lyotardswork e power of the heterogeeous power s rst give as he sho

of he aisteton But this aisteton, preseted iay as the quale of arredube sesory give fac tus out to e a purey ideteriateeeet the evet of a passio, says Lyotard, he pure power of heosubstitutabe or of he oreprocabe, the power hat does otrcuate So, it s ot og u, y he edao of he LacaaThig, the shock of the aisteton ecoes assged to he Mosac aw espety of art that was i eed of beig saved s a pure aieao tis the pure wessig of the power of the Other ad of he irredeeabe

debt toward that oher power To wat to attai agaist the deoaticaditure coucatoa or arket the pure dierece of art,eads to spoig that · dierece he ethico-reigous reatio to theabsoutey Other.

That is the pot that sees to e to characerize our preset hetedecy for the diereces itrodued by poics ad art, but aso thoseof ght ad of oraity, to disappear the idisico of ethcs Yetthis becoig-idstic, it sees to e, ca be rigorousy coceved as

a asoutizao of dstico is the fudaeas of the properwhich is overtued ito a fudaetas of the asoutey otherThe to accopish the disco eessates oferrig he powerto disigush oto a superpower of dissesus or of rupture The phiosophicopoitcoaesthetic scee herey becoes that of the coics ofsupeowers supeower of the uttudes coprsig the core of theEpre ad the force destied to break it (Neg) of the te truthwhch rasts poitica coecives ad artworks (Badiou) of the state of

ecepto deteriig bare fe (Agabe) of the Thig ad the Law(Lyotard) of the ayssa ierty eperieed i he ecouter with hehorror of the g (Zizek) These fors of supeower-i-opeoare lways of capitazig o oe ad he sae supeower the superpower of truth that, oce upo a te was wagered i the oo of hesupeower of producive forces' wh tum was wagered i Leisfaous epresso Mars theory s apowerfu because is trueOce there was a happy tie i whi that a powerfuess desied abeautifu chai of equivaeces e power of heory was the power ofthe true, which was he power of he strucure that of the asses ad ofhistory Sice these powers have becoe dsjoed o oe aother,

25

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DIENU

he ueower ha taken on dvere gure. Firt here the dominantgure which erve a a reference or a a oing oin o al he oher:n h gure the ower of the tructure become the ower of the ing,

that of he truth a irreducibe aerity unching hoe n the chan ofknwedge Lacan elling pophe wa by and large fuled: herevouonare who ough a mater ruh foud t n hi gure ofabolue alteriy Thi confrontaion ha given rie o divere raegieSraegie of avoidance, uch a tha which aked a different form ofychoanayi and anoher ye of unconcou the means wh whcho reafrm the mmanent uerower of the roductive force (Neg);traegie of forcing and of diveron, uch a he olymezaion of he

trke of ruth into rocee f nnte truh (Badou) r a inverting ofhorror nto an afrmaon of abya freedom (Zzek).

lhee revamed verion of he alowerfune of he true haveone thing in common ey ree the ower of denu withn an onologcal rine of rea derence: the roicne of Beng, he a ofthe Innite, the rke of he Idea, he encouner wih Horror and/or heLaw They roam the eence of an ontologica or f necearycounterontoloca - ower of the Oher whi enable a lea oude

of the ordinary ere of conenua exerence. What i thereby founded that range conemorary gure of aohatc doaim, whchon o the good name and ereion n he name of the Rea hadiere al he name

Whe al thee encounter and rerouing of a uerower wereaking lace, I haened o eewhere and otherwie occued At heme, I wa rying to undertand he ower ertaning o a few word,word like proletaan and emanpaon I wa working on the encounter,boundae and aage whoe effect cont n earatng indivduafrom the ream of he enory eerience o whch they were aigned.Rather han on he name of he Other and the atomic form of heencounter wth he Other, I wa working on procee of ateraon,of the redrbution of e and of he recomoton of form of eeence Raher than wih the ueower of the true tearing oen theiue of knowledge, I wa conceed with he reuoion andthe vericaion of the equality of intelligence. Thi wa no due to anydifference of rne; thng jut ued ou hi way In order tohnk through what I wa deaing wih the ueower of that whchranire eewhere wa, wthout my beng nformed of it, of no ue

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E UE OF DITIION

to me Simly I alied myef to elaboraing he noon and he dstinc-on hat enabled me o account for such rocees of alteraon andprocedure of verication 

h me, t seemed to me hat is imtaon or th a also had isvirue In one reec, it enabled an underaning of a cerain numberof hng which remained opaque n the dramaure of the upeowerand tha the laer had o ignore they were o hang onto he exemarycaes that ermited her axioms of rupure o funcon In anotherresec, by uung a topology of posible and their dislacemenand recomposons for e efacy proocos of te upeower I main-tained he space of invenions of polic and ar open a he itical

on when the great eeologies were invered, when Marxi economicnecesiy was ued to the necesty of the caialist word marke,when the reu of olitics became the ag hat concealed he conensual undeg o efface polic, when he promies of emanciaonha had been abuted o arisc modey were tranformed ino heeimoe of immemoal alienaon, and wen the dscourse of heend reounded almot everywhere these circumtance, afrmnghe power of he equaiy of intellgence and he egency of s verica-

on, the democrac dspersion of the cuar logic of he ar and thetenon of conrarie wihin e aehec reme of ar eemed morerotale than aing myelf on the uoedly radca exerience ofthe heterogeneou Indeed, I have been ae to oberve, a we all havehe way whi he apareny mos radica forms of afrmaon ofariic and oitica difference were ransformed ino her conrary,namely rad ehcal indncon: he inverion of modei radicaliyin the nostalgic cult of he image ad of emony; the inversion of theroaimed urity of the olical ino pure conen to the managementof economc necesity, and indeed ino the egimaon of the mosruta form of warg imperalism

So, I wa ed o conider a my refusa o ontologize a prinle of heeterogeneous, my refusal of al ontologies of superower, was no ahamefu capuaon efore the duies of hiloophy or he parasicalexercise of the hystec living off he deconsrucon of the maser'discoure but he toroughgoing pracce of anoher dea of philoohy Thi idea of hilosohy homogeneous o the idea of oics and artha I have strved o deveop is an dea of phlosohy not as an ediceo be uil wherein he variou racce are agned her domain

2

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DSENU

and priniple, nor a a hitoria tradon meditatin on oure, bua an acidenal avity Not a a neceary acivy, incrbed in he orderof hin and demanded by the quet for Bein, aed upon by the need

of oher cience and avitie, or boe aon by an htoa detiny, buta a chance, uppementary acivy ih, ke politcs and art, couldjut a e no have exited. hoophy i an aciviy ithout jucaon and hout any peic place becaue it proper name telf aprobematic homonym, iuaed at he juncion of dieren dcoureand differen pe of reaon Thi juncon paced under he n ofdareement n he ene ha I dened in my book of he ame namethat i a a conlic over homonym, a con beteen one ho ay

he and another ho ay hehiloophy a I conceive of it h pace and thi acvy, bound,

oin o i on probematic homonymy, o ork on the homonymieman, polic, art, jutice ience, lanuae freedom, love, ork and oon Ony there are o ay o dea th homonym One i o proceedto puri them, to idenify the ood name and the ood ene and dpere he bad Such i often he pratice of the o-caled human andoia cience hich boat tha hey ony eave o phoophy empty or

denitivey equvoca name Such ofen he ak tha philoopheralo ive themelve The oher ay conder ha every homonymyarrane a pace of houht and of acon, and hat he problem i herefore neiher o eliminate he pree of homonymy, nor o ake nameba to a radca indeterminaon, but o deploy the inea hich puthe homonymy to ork

h ay, it poible o dene a eran denua pracice ofpiloophy a an aviy of de-acaon ha undeine lpoinof domain and ormua doe o not for the oe pleaure ofdeconrutn the maer' dcoure, but n order to think he ineaccordn to hich boundarie and paae are conruced, acordno hch hey are concevable and modabe Thi cal pracceof phoophy i an neparaby ealitaran, or anarchic praice,nce conder arument, narrave, eimone, nveation andmetaphors al a he equa nvenon of a ommon capaiy in acommon lanuae Enain n que of the intitued dvion, hen,ave the ay for renen our inerroaion nto ha e are ableo hnk and to do

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Notes

EDITOR'S INODUN

1 Cement Greenberg famou arged, for example that the proeof modeit lie n the wa in whh eah art develop and pro-gree b beoming aware of it medum peit. Progre nthe hitory of panng th beome idential wth the onquet ofatne et 

e mateee of Ranre polial thougt LMenn tranlateda Disageement Polti and Philoshy, tran. Jule Roe Minneapoi:Univert of Minneota re 1999 (Frenh orinal: 199 5). The baifor mot of hi idea on aethet were rt worked out in La paolemete essai s les contadins de la litate, Par: Hahete 1996wih nfortnate ha et to be anlated into Englih 

3 Englih tranaon forthoming: Althsse's Lesson ran EmlanoBatita (Connm: Lonon 2010) 

For more on th pont ee hapter of La Msentente a well a theook n whh h niqe onept of eqalit rt reeived t fuexpreon Le Maite ignoant nq lens leons s l' anpation intelleelle, Par: Faar 1987 publihed in Engih a The IgnoantSchoolmaste Five Lessons in Ineal Emanpation tran n RoStanford: Stanford Unvert Pre 1991

5 ome of i work Ranire ha tended to mark the derene ofar denu om poial liigaion throgh the onept of

contae See for exampe Ranre ommen on the reaton betweenFoalt' prae of theor and hi praal ommen in h

29

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Chronic of Conenual me, trans Seven Corcoran, LondonConnuum, (forthcoming 200 [French orignal, 2005] )  

CER ONE

1 ansator's note The rst Englsh translation of he Ten Theses onPolcs was y Rachael Bowy and Davde Panaga and puishedonlne in the joual Theo and Event 5 , 200 My transaonremains indebed to their work 

l nslaors note Ranre plays on the doue meaning of avoirpart asoth having a share/role in something, a pg' and as a paron,

n the sense of he aon of separang wo or more persons or things ora thng whose presence dvides somethng (the conunty) no two Because ts pg involves a polemcal demonsaon, i is usefulalso o of t in he old Enish sense of pa- to impart, makeknown, u also o take par th (someone) and hus o ake sides

3 ansator's noe The wordpay here s on the idea of an nteres'referring oh o a pncipe of nterrelating and to the dea of societalnerest' Ranre s invokng an Arendian dsncion found in her

The Human Condition (see pages 5058) ah Arend, The Human Condition (Chcago University of Chcago

Press, 958), p 177 Demes (in Greek dmoi) were ownps or dvsions of anent Atca

They took on a special poitical mporance wih Ceisheness reformsn 508 BC The reforms made enrolmen in the czenists of a demea requirement for czenshp Por o that, citizensp had een asedon membership in a phratry or famly group The estabishment of the

deme as he fundamena unt of the stae weakened the aristoaticfamiy groups tha had domnated he phratries

See ocra and Politil eo Minneapois Universiy of MinnesotaPress, 1988), espealy Par On he Irreduce Eemen'

7 For Athusser's accoun of he sujet of deology as a produc of inter-pelaon, see Ideology and Ideoogical Sate Apparatuses in Lenin andPhiophy (New York Monhy Revew Press 97 ) pp 8126

See Arend's chapter ted The Socal Question' from On Revolution(New York Pengun Books, 990), especially pp 687

For an exended dscussion of this concept, see chaper 4 of Diagreement, trans uie Rose (Minneapols Unversy of MnnesotaPress, 999 [French orinal, 995])

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NOTE

CHAER O

1 essay was oy delvered a paper in a ses in mmemora-

on of Jaue Deda a he Birke Advand Sudies Cre in heHumanies, May 2005 was hen plihed along wih he oer pein he sees r, ed Cosas Do (Hampsire, U: Pa}aveMa2007, pp 8100 reped here h moons.

l Plao, Menexenu, 238cd.3 Derda, e Politi of Fenhip, rans George Colins, London: Verso,

1997(French Oginal,1994, pp 931 1 34 ansaors noe: The aera Commission was fonded a he

niaive of Davi Rockefeler in 1 973 Noam Chomsky wroe hefollowng of he composiion of he ilaeral Commissin in 1981:s memers are drawn from he hree componens of wod capial-is goveen, he ·us Europe and Japan Among hem are heheads of maor corporaons and anks, parners in coorae awrms, Senaors, Profesors of ineaional affairs he famiiar mixin exragovemena groupings. See Raical Prioritie Reie ThirEition, ed C P. Oero (Oaklan: A.K Press, 2003 For he argu

mens o which Rancire here refers, consu he ooklengh reporissued y he Commission wen y M Crzier, S P Huningonand J Waanki, The Crii of Democra ilateral Commion TakForce Report no 8 (New York: NYU Pres, 1975.

5 Milner, Le Penchan mine e 'Europe ocratique [The CriminalTendencie of Democraic Erope (Paris: dions Verdier, 2003

6 B Levy, Le Meurtre u Pateur The Murder of he Pasor] (Paris:diions Verdier, 2004 

7 Plao, Repubc, Book V 563c.8 Plao, The La, Book 690c See, D-agreement See aso he preface o he revsed French edon of

A bor u polique (Pas: Galimard, 1998  Agamen, Homo Sacer (Sanford: Sanford Universy Press, 1998 

alian orna, 1995. See he nex essay of he presen collecion, Who is he Suec of he

Righs of Man?

12 Derda, Spee of Ma (New York: Roulege, 1994 French orinal,1993 p. 85 

13 JF. Lyoard, The Ohers Righs, in S. Shue and S Hurey, eds OnHuman Righ (New York: Basic Books, 1994, pp 13647 

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CHAPR REE

Edmund Burke Reons on the Revolution in Fran, ed. J G A Poo

(Indianaolis: Hae, 1987 origina year of ubiaon 790] ) .l Hannah Arend The Origins of Tolitaanm (New York: Harour

Brae, 951) . 297983 Ibid. . 2934 d 297.5 Mihel Fouau The Hto of Sexuali volume 1 The Wto Knowge

trans. Rober Hurey (Penguin Books: London 992 Fren orgina1976]); and Soe Mt Be Defene Leures at the College e Fan,

1975-1976 Ed. Mauro Bertan and Alessandro Fontana tran DavdMaey (London: Alen ne 2003 [Frenh orinal 1997 )

6 Mhe Fouau The W Knowlege Volume One of the Histo ofSeali, trans. Rober Hurey Harmondsworh: Penguin Books 1990(Frenh ornal 976) and oe Must Be Defene" Leures at theCoge e Fran, 197576 rans David Maey New York: Piador 2003(Frenh orinal 1997).

Car Smit Polche Theologie (Berin: Dunker and Humblo 1922)

8 Agamben Homo Sar. bid10 bid Arendt Ogin of Totalitarianism 294.12 Agamben Homo Sar3 ao La, rans. A. E Taylor (rineton: Prineon Unversty Pres

1989) Bk 3 690a 2885.4 See e Other's Rights' in On Human Righ.

5 Lyotard The Others Righ' 3616 bd.

CHAPTER FOUR

1 Ths essay i based on a aer delivered at the Indeterminate Com-munsm onferene hed at he Unversity of Frankfur, Germany79 November 2003

2

Hege Shelng and Hderlin The Olest System Programme of GeanIealm ed. Est Behler London and New York: Continuum 987(German original 797).

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CHAPTER

Ths nerview was ubished in French in Multue in June 2002 See

//multtueamatnet2 Michae Hardt and Antonio Negri Empre (Cambridge HarvardUniversity Press 2000) 60

3 d . 394.4 Ibd. 3975 Ibid., 39900.6 Antonio Negr and Mche Hard, Empre Cambridge, Mass Harvard

Unversity Press, 2000.

CTER S

Inerview conduced by Eric Aliez and osted online n March 2000.

CTER SEVN

Ths essay s a slighy modied version of a aer ven n New Yorkon 2 Feruary 2002 n he framework of FrancoAmerican Dalogues'

a he niave of Laure Adler and Tom Bisho and coorganzed yFrance Cuture and the Center for French Culure and Civiizaon aNew York Universy

CTER EIGHT

In the French Presdenal elecon of 2002, he xenohoic, ght-wng naonalis candidae, JeanMarie Le Pen, successfuly acceded o

the second round o chalenge incumben Jacques Chirac heuning of all oitical forces, includng he French Communst Pary,oskyists and onel Josns Socials Pary, accomanied y a vastmedia camaign wag ha demoacy was eing undermined byfassm, ensured hat Chirac won wih a Sovesyle score 

CHAPTER NINE

Fredr von Schier, Letter on the Aethetc Eucaon of Man trans.Ezabeth M. kinson and L.A. Wiloughby (Oxford: Carendonress, 967 German original 795]).

3

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224

2 anlator note a menoned in the introdcion Rancire

diinghe eween three reme of ar the ehical reme herereenave regime and the aethec regme For frher detail

ee Jacqe Rancire The Po of the Aesthet The Dstrbuon ofthe Sensble, ran Gael Rockhl with an nrodcon SavojZizek (Connm London 2004 [Fren orinal 2000] )

3 Hegel Schelng and Hlderlin The Oest Systemac Programme ofGean Idealsm, ed E Behler (London and New York Continm1987 [German orignal 797)

4 mmanel Kant tque of Judgement tran Jame Creed Meredh(Oxford Oxford Unver Pre 2007 [German Orignal 1790] )

Shane Malarm A Throw of the d wll never abolsh chan nShane Malarm Colleced Poem tran and wth a commenar Henr Weineld (Berkele Unver of Califoa Pre 1994French orinal 897] )

6 Ele Fare L Et des Foes (Pari Cr 1927)7 Honor de Bal e Skn Ass, (rmondwoh Pengin Ca

977 French orignal 83])8 Le Hae were the cenral marke of nneeenthcentr ari Zoa

novel i varol tranlated nto Englih The e leral TheUnderbey of Pas, and wa hi r nove cenred enre on theworking a

Lo Aragon Par Peasant, tran Simon Waton Talor (New YorkExac Change 2004 [Fren orignal 1926] )

10 Let' Eneran (2000) and Au deldu ectace (20001)1 1 Adoo Phlosophy of Mode Musc (Contnm London 2003

German orinal 949 )

12 GWF Hegel Introducto Leures Aesthet, tran Beard Boanqewth an nrodcion Michae nwood (Harmondworh PenginCaic 2004 [German orinal 8358] )

13 Roert ntelme The Human Race tran Jefe Hagh and AnneMaher Marlboro Marboro Pre 992 [French orgina 1947)

CTER TEN

See Roea Polt and the Ar Leter to M. D'Alembe on theTheatre (thaca Coel Unvert re 968 Fren orignal1758)

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2 See Brechts pla The Reble Re of Auo U (German ornal 1941 )a parable on the rise of Hitler and the compacenc of those whoenaled it to happen The pla set in the gangsterand of 1930s

Chcago in the midst of ecoomc turmoil and presents Arturo in hsbd to gain control of the Cauliower st (the representatve ofGerman captalism and the Junker Class)

3 See Godards Peot le fou (1965) 4 See Marha Roser's sees of photomontages tted Brngng the War

Home ( 196 772) Compare with her more recent series Bngng theWar Home Houe Beaul, new ee (2004)

5 Chantal Akermans m was rst screened n 200 1 and reeased in

Engish as On the Othe Sde edro Costas lm was reeased in 2000 as Vanda ' Room

CPTER ELEVN

1 Ranre e Name ofH On the Poet ofKnowledge trans HassanMeeh wth a foreword b Haden White (Minneapois: Universit ofMinnesota ress 1994 [French ona 1992 )  

2 Honor de Baac The Coun Paron, (Boston ana Estes & Compan1901 Fren orignal 1839])

CHAPTER LV

Giles eleue and Fix Guatari at Phloophy ans HughTominso and Graham Burell (Coumba Unverst ress: New York1994 [Fren orinal 1991) pp 17677 ansation moded 

2 The orin of ths text was a paper presented at Foraea (Brail) inNovember 2004 for a coloquum alled Art et rsistance' organiedb the Laboatoo de Etudo e Pequa da Subjevdade of the FederalUniversit of Ceara at the intatve of anie ns to whom I extendm warm thanks

CPTER IRTEEN

Bret's Sant Joan of the Stocar (German orinal 192931 ) wrtenunder the impac of the Wall Street crash the brutal represson ofworkers' demonstratons and the onset of the Great epresson is set

5

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226

NE

amid the saughterhouses, workers' quarers and so exange of amythical Chicago

2 Alfred Hitchco Te Wong Man (1957); Frz Lag Fu (936) and

You Only Lie On ( 937) .3 Hitchcock Te Houe of Ewa (945); Lang e Secet bein te

Doo (948).4 See The Oher's Rghts', n On Human Rig5 Giorgio Agamben, Remnan of Aucwi Te Witne an te Aie

trans D HelerRoazen (New York: Zone Books 1999 Iaianognal 1998)

Boltanski's Ponebook Cutome was commssioned through the

Contemporary Society and n 2002 was oaned om he Mused'Art Modee Paris to he Souh London Gaery 

Godard was direcor and seenwter for Contempt (963); he basedeot lefou ( 965) on a novel by Lonel White Obeion (962); vea ie ( 962) was released n the Unted Staes as My Le to Lie and asIt My Le n he United Kingdom Paion ( 982) was folowed by InPaie of Loe (200) Geany Yea 0 Nine Zeo ( 99 ) and Hto ofte Cinema ( 198898).

8 Grard Waman, L'Objet u icle (Pars: Verdier, 1998)9 text was presented in March 2004 in Barceona at the Forum of

the Caixa, whi focused on Geographes of Conemporary Thoght'

CPTER FOURTEEN

1 Tis essay was presented at a coloquum organzed by JeanCletMartin caled the Division of the Sensble' ha took pace on 5 June

2004 at the Cole Inteationale e Piloopie2 Antelme's phrase in the French onal is e u all pe il faiait

ene nuit, whle he phrase from Iphignie s Oui, c'et Aamemnon,c' et ton oi qui t'eil h her welve sylables and caesura inhe midde boh senences eo one aoher reproducing exacly therhyhm of he aexandrne as all he Fren sdens of Anelme'stime had eat

2 Alan Jupp was French prime mniser from May 1995 o June 997 

s pan to make major cubas to he soal sysem in France wasme wih naonwde strikes he arges snce May 1968 to protetsoal gains 

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Index

Aerman, Chanta

De lautre ct 49Adams John 39Adoo eodor 6 8 20

Philoophie der neuen Mik 29aesthe the 20 2333 6

Aesthec eedomaesthec Revouon 20 24

68aesthecs of poi  4 42 48

Agamben Gioro 64 6 4934 92 22 24Homo Sar 64 0on the Hooust 66

Da l mprogramm dedeuchen Ialm8 9

Athusser Louis 6 223 3 222 n. Anteme Robert 32 208

Ep humaine 32 208Antigone 8Aiez Eric 84Aragon Louis

Le Pan de Pa 26 6

Arendt n 2830 636 20 206 22 24

The Human ondition 230The Origi ofTolinm 63 On oluon 39

Aristote 3 6Politi 29 3 9

29three remes of

aesthec 46 623 389

34 9 20 200cca 42 49 934for Deeuze 8efcacy of 344 48ethica 4 3for Lyotard 82paradox of poica 3as pracce 4 9representave 4 6 9 63

3 6 20 200resistance of 6983 Au- du ecc (art exhibion) 28

Badiou Aain 2 2 2 6Baibar Eenne 9Bazac Honor de 26

Le r viage 8 6 Peau de n 2 62

Baudeaire Chaes 2 64Behrens Peter 2Benjamin Water 26 64 6Botans Chrisan 46 93 

Le abonn du l/hone 4 93 Brecht Bertot 42

aualame Aug AuUi 224 2

Die heile Johanne dSchlachther 86 22 n

Burden Chris 4Burke Edmund 63  Bush George 00 O 86

vs Goebbes 09

227

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INDEX

4379 823 89005 29 78 85 99 27

Car Schmi 645

Case Rober 95Chomsky Noam 22 n 4Ceishenes 3 3communiy 33 36 , 70 88

consensua communiy 8communism 7683

as wer of sepaon 83ommunit Maneto 78 80consensus 25 42 712

434 489 889opma form of 067Puoac consensus 05

Cosa Pedro 5

D 'Aureviy Baey 54Debord Guy 28Deeuze Gies 6983

Qu t que phiophie 70demacy 70 545

Ahenian demracy 334chaenge of 6as disribuon o f he sensibe 54as paradox 50paradox of 457 58for Pao 4950a pracce 59as rupure 3 53

mo 323 40 53 60 70 2 3Derrida Jacques 45 523 5860

Poliqu lamiti 45Spere Ma 58

De Sa Germaine 6 208De trature 6 2

De Tocquevie Aexis 4Dissensus 25 8a essen of poii 378 69 80

1390 73 76 80

9 28onooca scure of 2

disribuon of he sensibe 367 924 579

Easwood CinMytic Rver (2002) 867

Enomt e 46

Empire 87 90equaiy 35 33 54 80 856 56 59 207 213

of ineigence and sensibiiy 8ehica u he 84202ehics 84 93

far-righ poi pares 07Faure Eie

L'Erit dfo 22Fedmann Hans Peer 46Fendez Ren 47con abour of 4 489Fischi Peer 46auber Gusave 6 536 60

636Bouvard et Pchet 66Mame Bova 29 65

Foucau Miche 645 925Ilfaut dendre oci 645Omne et Singulatum 945L von de avoir 64 93

Fox New Fra Angeico 22Fn pd eecon

of 22 07Fren Revouon of 789 567

6 76of 848 40

Fukuyama Frans 58

German Romansm 60Gioo 22Godard JeanLuc 42 94Greenberg Cemen 2 9 fn

Habermas Jrgen 7

Has Frans 22Hege G W F 235 1 30 745

Vorungen ber die thetik 30Hico Afred 867

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Hoocaust 48Hocat, e (U S teevision

series) 1 32

Homer 30 32Iliad 32O 178

Hugo Victor 10Hunngton Samue 47 54Hussein Saddam 4

insecurit prinpe of 09Iraq war 10510

Juno Ludoi 718 1224 12138 177

Kandinsk Was 123Kant Immanue 2

Kritik d Urikra 121 1 3 1 1 7Kns Je 12 8Kulturkrik 127

n Jacques 187 21ng Fritz 187nann Caude

Shoah (m) 132 19utte Matthieu 1478Le Czio G M J 175Lefort Caude 34Lenin Vadimir 2 1 5Lessing Gotthod Ephraim

Laoon 19Nathan r Wee 1 35

Let' Entein (art exhibition) 128Levi Primo 1312Lev Benn 49

Le Meure du pteur 49iterariness 1578 15iterature 159 134 17

denion of 1 55

Loos Ado 121Lotard Jean Francois 590 723

1812 19 12 198 20021415

INDEX

Amn Intational Leure onHuman Righ 59 72 191

ae the bme 13

1989

Maevich KamirBlack Square 19

Ml Stphane 12

Un coup de d 121Manet Edouard 125Marx Kar 55 2 7 823 120 127

14 20Gndrse 94

Masaco 122Ma 198 in France 19metapoi 87 9 12Micheet Jues 12Miner JeanCaude 489 212

L Penchan mine lropeoatique 489

MoireManthrope 1 3Taue 13 5

Morris Wiiam 120Multu ou) 87

Neg Antonio 212 2151ee ao Empire

Nietzsche Friedrich 130 175

Oedipu at Colonu 34Ompe de Gouges 57 8Orta Luc 147

Pato 34 4 4952 545 79137 139

Gorg 31 40� 3 40 50 70Menn 45

Rublic 14 40 49Stman 40 49

peope the 33vs the mutudes 8490

9

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230

INDEX

y 156Hege on 124Maa on 1201

oice 367 42 53 56 92 95 1 082057ica hiosohy 28 401 423oiti 2744 513 7980 845 92

139 152 2057vs biooi 916

oi of aesthe 14 1 1619 124126 1332 148 176 1789

oi of iteatue 1 5268 1 60

1628Poust Mace 164 17980

Re Jacques 6La mentente 79 8491 no de lhtoire 1 57

Rembandt Hamenson vonRin 122

Night Watch 210Rieg Aos 121ht of humanitaian

inteeence 1023Rights of �n 64 68

vs Humanitaan ights 623 190Rights of �n d the Cizen 556

657 701 745 21 4Rimbaud Athu 1667Rodchenko Aexande 1 16Romanc e 1258Rose �tha 142Rousseau JeanJacques 1367

Lettre M. DAlembe ur leac 1367

Rubens Pete Paunt om the o 210

Rumsfed Donad 467

a-papie movemen (wokes

without aes) 90Sate JeanPau 153 163

Scheing F W J 123Schie Fiedch von 1 1 518 1 31

138 1767

ber die theche Eiehu Mechen 115 1767Schege August hem125Smitt Ca 65Schng od 1 30 178Setembe 1 1 attas on the

Towes 979 104 108 188soa the 965Stauss Leo 28

an Vei 125atea Commission 46

Vesquez Diego 125Vemee Johannes 122Vico Giambattista 160Votaie

Mahomet 135Von ie s

Dogl (2002) 1856 189

Weiss David 146Wees Oson

zen Kane 132 197Winemann John

Joachim 138Wodio Kysztof 147Woof Vinia 208

e Wav 208Woinge Wihem 121ong 7 91

absouon of 734

Yiao Be People 146

k Sv 7 2 1 516

Zo mie ventre de Par 126

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