Creation and Anarchy - The Work of Art and the Religion of Capitalism (Paperback)

Creation and the giving of orders are closely entwined in Western culture, where God commands the world into existence and later issues the injunctions known as the Ten Commandments. The arche, or origin, is always also a command, and a beginning is always the first principle that governs and decrees. This is as true for theology, where God not only creates the world but governs and continues to govern through continuous creation, as it is for the philosophical and political tradition according to which beginning and creation, command and will, together form a strategic apparatus without which our society would fall apart. The five essays collected here aim to deactivate this apparatus through a patient archaeological inquiry into the concepts of work, creation, and command. Giorgio Agamben explores every nuance of the arche in search of an an-archic exit strategy. By the book's final chapter, anarchy appears as the secret center of power, brought to light so as to make possible a philosophical thought that might overthrow both the principle and its command.

General

Imprint:	Stanford University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics
Release date:	April 2019
First published:	2019
Authors:	Giorgio Agamben
Translators:	Adam Kotsko
Dimensions:	216 x 140 x 12mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	104
ISBN-13:	978-1-5036-0926-6
Categories:	Books
LSN:	1-5036-0926-X
Barcode:	9781503609266

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Some profound reflections on creativity and politics

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 | Review by: Duncan R.

This is perhaps not the most earth-shattering of Agamben's books, but it is filled with fascinating and highly relevant insights into the nature of creativity itself. This is coupled with Agamben's take on how capitalism has become a kind of market-shaped religion with its own set of implicit beliefs. Agamben is consistently insightful and interesting in blending theology and political theory, and Kotsko's translation reads easily.

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