
Against Power
For an Overhaul of Critical Theory
Giacomo Marramao(Author)
John Cabot University Press
Published on 13. May 2016
Book
Hardback
96 pages
978-1-61149-619-2 (ISBN)
Description
In his latest book in the study of power, Giacomo Marramao focuses on the work of two great Central European writers, Elias Canetti and Herta Mueller, each of whom, in different periods and contexts, offered a philosophical genealogy of forms of domination and a radical diagnosis of power, command and law.
To grasp the meaning of the transformations of power, it is necessary to go to the roots: to the arche that originated it as a factor common to all human cultures and all historical periods. Power cannot be suppressed: any attempt to 'overcome' it (by eliminating one or another form of its exercise) has done no more than strengthen it. Power must, however, be 'uprooted' or subverted in its logic of identity, which is activated in the boundless character of desire and the paranoid scene of fearand the death of the Other. In the midst of today's global world, to trace a line of opposition to power means to free ourselves from the alibi of objectivity and to focus instead on subjects and their potential for metamorphosis/regeneration. This is possible only if we detach ourselves from the ground noise of actuality and recover the broken thread of solitary and extreme works.
To grasp the meaning of the transformations of power, it is necessary to go to the roots: to the arche that originated it as a factor common to all human cultures and all historical periods. Power cannot be suppressed: any attempt to 'overcome' it (by eliminating one or another form of its exercise) has done no more than strengthen it. Power must, however, be 'uprooted' or subverted in its logic of identity, which is activated in the boundless character of desire and the paranoid scene of fearand the death of the Other. In the midst of today's global world, to trace a line of opposition to power means to free ourselves from the alibi of objectivity and to focus instead on subjects and their potential for metamorphosis/regeneration. This is possible only if we detach ourselves from the ground noise of actuality and recover the broken thread of solitary and extreme works.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
303 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61149-619-2 (9781611496192)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
John Cabot University Press
€74.99
Available for download

E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
John Cabot University Press
€74.99
Available for download
Persons
Giacomo Marramao is professor of theoretical philosophy and political philosophy at the University of Rome III.
Content
Contents
Forward to The English Edition
Preface
Chapter 1: The Primal Scene. Politics, Power and Potency
Chapter 2: Archeology of Power: Elias Canetti
Chapter 3: Power, Identity and Writing: Herta Mueller
Chapter 4: Mutations and Metamorphoses:The New Power Scene
Appendix: Machiavelli Today: An Imaginary Interview
About the Author
Index
Forward to The English Edition
Preface
Chapter 1: The Primal Scene. Politics, Power and Potency
Chapter 2: Archeology of Power: Elias Canetti
Chapter 3: Power, Identity and Writing: Herta Mueller
Chapter 4: Mutations and Metamorphoses:The New Power Scene
Appendix: Machiavelli Today: An Imaginary Interview
About the Author
Index