Questions: Agamben and Historical Theory

I asked what follows on Facebook and Twitter, but I’m going to record my thinking here for some sense of permanence:

What good is Giorgio Agamben for historical theory? Or, how does Agamben use Benjamin’s historical thinking?

Is using the work of Giorgio Agamben a way to use Martin Heidegger without regrets, without having to apologize for the latter’s Nazism? Or is thinking with a Agamben a way to extend the work of Walter Benjamin into twenty-first century? Or both? Or neither? On the first the questions above, Adam Kotsko provided this brief reflection on Agamben’s relationship to both Heidegger and Carl Schmitt.

Also: When will the SEP commission a piece on Agamben?

Advertisements