What Is Philosophy?

129 Pages·2017·0.888 MB·English

by  Giorgio Agamben, Lorenzo Chiesa

What is philosophy?

M E R I D I A N
Crossing Aesthetics
Werner Hamacher
Editor
Translated by Lorenzo Chiesa
Stanford
University
Press
Stanford,
California
2018
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

Giorgio Agamben
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
English translation © 2018 by the Board of Trustees of the
Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
What Is Philosophy? was originally published in Italian in 2016 under the title
Che cos’è la filosofia? © 2016 by Giorgio Agamben. Originally published by
Quodlibet Srl., Macerata, Italia. This book was negotiated through Agnese
Incisa Agenzia Letteraria, Torino.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written
permission of Stanford University Press.
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free, archival- quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Agamben, Giorgio, 1942– author.
Title: What is philosophy? / Giorgio Agamben ;
translated by Lorenzo Chiesa.
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2017. |
Series: Meridian: crossing aesthetics | Originally published in Italian in
2016 under the title Che cos’è la filosofia? |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017008916 (print) | LCCN 2017011540 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781503602205 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781503602212 (pbk. : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781503604056 (ebook) |
Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy. | Language and languages—Philosophy.
Classification: LCC B87 (ebook) |
LCC B87 .A4613 2017 (print) | DDC 100—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017008916
Contents
Translator’s Note ix
Foreword xi
Experimentum Vocis 1
On the Concept of Demand 29
On the Sayable and the Idea 35
On Writing Proems 91
Appendix: The Supreme Music. Music
and Politics 97
Bibliography 109
Index of Names 113

Translator’s Note
Throughout the text I have rendered both linguaggio and lingua
as “language,” specifying the occurrences of lingua (which is used
less often) in brackets. Following Agamben, Saussure’s notion of
langue has been left in the French original. Parola is translated as
“speech” or “word,” depending on the context. In agreement with
the author, atto di parola has been rendered as “act of speech” so
as not to create any confusion with Austin’s “speech act” theory.
Significato is generally translated as “meaning”; in some cases I
have opted for “signified,” for instance, when it is paired with sig-
nificante (“signifier”). Senso is always translated as “sense” when
used as a linguistic concept.
In line with my translation of Agamben’s The Fire and the Tale
(Stanford, 2017) and with Adam Kotsko’s translation of his The
Use of Bodies (Stanford, 2015), I have rendered the technical term
esigenza as “demand.” The reader should however bear in mind
that esigenza also overlaps with “requirement” and the etymologi-
cally proximate “exigency.”
Where necessary, citations are adapted to Agamben’s own cita-
tions in Italian. Existing English translations have been consulted
and incorporated as far as possible. Bibliographical references are
provided only when Agamben himself provides them.
ix